


The Prince and the Kat

by SilverAmoebasquid



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: BUT THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP FIXES ALL, F/M, I have no idea how to tag this lmao, Kat I love you, Kat insert, LMAO, M/M, Multi, Reader... Insert... ??? kinda????, Self-Harm, Swearing, WARNINGS:, along with the power of Kat!, attempted suicide, is it an oc if it's your irl best friend?, katori (Kat/Satori), not even remotely useful, not really - Freeform, seriously just ignore everything going on here these tags aren't even helpful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-19 11:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 37,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11312871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverAmoebasquid/pseuds/SilverAmoebasquid
Summary: Tendou Satori thought he was getting a lowercase 'c' cat. What he really ended up with is a capital 'K' Kat. And that's much better.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miracleboysatori](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miracleboysatori/gifts).



> Okay, listen up, chumps. This is not conventional fanfiction. It probably shouldn't even be allowed on this site but I give very few fucks. If you do not know Kat ([tumblr](http://tendou-satori.tumblr.com) — [art tumblr](http://kat-doodles.tumblr.com) — [twitter](https://twitter.com/tendouaf)) YOU SHOULD. BECAUSE SHE'S FANTASTIC ON A WHOLE 'NOTHER SCALE!!! If you're in the Shiratorizawa fandom and you don't know Kat, you should probably be ashamed. If you stumbled across this looking for UshiTen and you don't know Kat already WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE??? Kat is the poster child for Tendou, UshiTen, and Shiratorizawa in general and it's hard to know that side of this fandom without knowing her. She is freckled Tendou drawings and endless screaming and the best friend I could ever ask for. She's the reason I got into Shiratorizawa as hard as I did and that is saying a lot for me (I would die for any of those boys, especially Shirabu) and she's always willing to talk to anyone about STZ so hit her up (or me :3) for good yelling about swan babies! Today (June 27th 2017) is a year since I first started talking to Kat and to celebrate, I wrote this monstrosity. Also as kind of a thank you to Kat for letting me spend a couple nights at her apartment a while ago. It was the best weekend of my life and I drew so much inspiration for this from being there and I would give ANYTHING to spend more time with my Kat irl. So there's your context. Proceed if you dare.

Kat’s eyes opened slowly to daylight streaming in through the windows. What day was it? Friday yet? No, only Tuesday. Damn, this week had already felt like an eternity and it was only one-seventh done.

Kat groaned and stretched, glancing at the clock. It was only 11:30 and class didn’t start until 1. She had plenty of time to take this morning as slow as she pleased.

Her laptop was down at the foot of her bed, but her phone was right next to her where it lay charging at night. Heaving a sigh, she scrolled through her normal sites. Nothing exciting seemed to be happening anywhere. True enough, a lot of her friends lived in slightly different time zones and it was hardly fair to expect everyone to be online to fire tweets through cyberspace or to be at home to share some quick doodles. Sighing again, she vaguely pondered how this morning was going to play out. Technically, she could try to get something done, sketch out an idea of her own or see if she had asks from Tumblr to answer. She didn’t really have enough time to draw, she didn’t feel like opening the can of worms that was Tumblr, and quite frankly, motivation was hard. She’d be up in time to quickly get ready for class and that was the important part.

Her thumb kept on scrolling down her phone, stuck now in that motion. Every few minutes, something would quirk the corners of her lips up and she would retweet or save an image to her camera roll.

The tone of the day started to level out as she woke up. It was going to be a pretty neutral day. Nothing particularly exciting seemed to be in store for her, but the world wasn’t in shambles either. That much was at least nice.

 

Come 12:45, Kat grudgingly pulled herself out of bed, throwing on a t-shirt and jeans at random, pulling her long, red hair into a ponytail, snatching her bag and a Dr. Pepper and dragging herself out the door of her small, one-bedroom apartment to face the world for the day.

For the rest of humanity, the day was in full swing already. Cars flew down the main road, each containing a different person with their own story in full swing. Whether they were going home or leaving it, alone or with friends or family, they all had their own complex life, relationships, problems, and successes. Various food places were stuffed with the late lunch rush and all these people with their own complex lives.

Kat bypassed them all, walking quickly to her destination. Her apartment was only five minutes from the door of the university’s art building and she slid in the doors before she strictly needed to be in her painting classroom. It was convenient, really, as she’d already managed to drain the can of Dr. Pepper.

She tossed it into the nearest trash can and stopped by the vending machine to buy another.

The box whirred for a moment as it thought, but no soda dropped into the tray. Kat’s shoulders sagged as she half-heartedly smacked the machine. No dice.

Frustrated and still longing for the extra boost of caffeine, Kat sulked away from the machine into her classroom. She’d live without since she sure as hell wasn’t giving the stupid thing a second chance to further sour her morning.

 

The classroom was filled with its normal chatter with the exception of the annoying kid who insisted upon asserting his opinion on every single matter at hand breaking through the quiet din of artists at work.

Kat knew what she needed to work on and she set her stuff down quickly before heading to the back room to grab paints and other supplies that she would need for the next few hours.

No one else was in the paint room at the moment so Kat took her time thinking about what to do.

Kat studied the wall of paint bottles and envisioned the finished product of her current project in her head. What was she missing? What would give her work the pop she was looking for?

The red paint was a shelf higher than Kat could comfortably reach and she inwardly cursed her height. There was a student who’d always been kind to her who would occasionally help snatch paint off high shelves for the unfortunate shorter students, but they were nowhere in sight today. Kat rose up on her toes and snatched the bottle off the shelf.

 

And immediately fell backward as about ten bottles of paint crashed to the floor around her.

 

Kat was disoriented for a few seconds before her vision cleared and she looked around her. An entire shelf of red, orange, and a few yellow bottles of paint lay on the floor around her, a few unharmed but most with broken caps, bright color splattered everywhere.

She didn't even move for several seconds, looking at the mess around her and feeling tears come to her eyes. This was her fault. She would have to clean it all up. Would she have to pay for the pain she’d wasted? She was a poor college student and didn't have the excess funds to replace the university’s nice paints.

And then Kat truly looked around her. She was a lot lower to the ground than she should have been and everything looked really big. The paint she was covered in didn't feel like it should've on her skin.

Kat looked down at her hand and found a tiny paw. She got up as best she could and stepped lightly around the pool of paint. Nothing felt real and Kat could hear her heart racing though it was even quicker than it should’ve been. She looked herself over as best she could in her current predicament. Behind her was a small tail sticking straight up in the air and the body of a small cat, fur matted with paint from the spill.

She couldn’t stand still anymore. This couldn’t be real, could it? What just happened?

Kat raced out of the storage room, screaming.

“Holy shit!” Someone in the classroom had been stepping toward the supply closet and almost fell over as Kat darted between their legs to escape.

“Is that a cat!?” someone else yelled.

Kat ignored them all, making a break for the open classroom door.

Her paint-coated paws slipped on the smooth tile and she ran into the wall on the other end of the hall before correcting herself and skittering for the exterior door.

The whole world was a completely different perspective like this and without even realizing it, a giant, tall leg stepped in front of Kat and she tried to scramble out of the way.

Running too fast to stop completely, Kat ran into the stranger’s shoe and attempted to scramble away.

“Hey! Come back here!” The stranger jumped after Kat, reaching down to grab her.

Kat was thankful for the layer of paint over her that enabled her to slip out of his grasp easily and keep running, now in the opposite direction. She didn’t care where she was going anymore, she just needed to get away from this person trying to catch her.

The thought broke through her panic a moment later: she really didn’t have any way to get outside. She wasn’t going to be able to push a door open like this.

She skidded to a halt by another door and the stranger, still racing after her, quickly scooped her up.

“Hey, calm down! It’s okay, I got you! I’m not going to hurt you!”

Kat tried wiggling out of the hands and put her paws on a white t-shirt-covered chest to throw herself back out of the grip.

The hands were tight around her though and she couldn’t move well enough like this. The stranger put a large hand over her head to pet her comfortingly before pushing the door open.

Kat stilled for a moment to catch glimpse of dark red eyes looking down at her and a soft smile hushing her gently.

Kat pondered staying still for a half a second, but she caught glimpse of the sky above her and knew that this was her best chance to make a break for it.

With a particularly strong yank, she tumbled out of the stranger’s arms and landed gracefully on the sidewalk to continue her flight to freedom. No longer confined by the walls of the building, she’d have no problem getting away from all this nonsense so she could figure out what was going on.

She glanced over her shoulder once to see that the guy was still running after her. She ran faster.  _ How was she running? She was a cat? She didn’t know how to run on four legs. _ With that though making her all too conscious of the situation at hand, Kat stumbled over her own feet, rolling into the grass.

Almost immediately, a hand descended over her. It wasn’t the same hand as the stranger from before though. This hand was thicker and larger and warmer. And a lot stronger.

With the two-handed grip around her, Kat stood no chance of wiggling away.

She was lifted into the air again and she caught a better glance at the stranger who’d begun chasing after her as he slowed to a stop.

He was tall and lanky with bright red hair that probably required an unholy amount of product to stick up like he had it. Despite the chase, he was grinning and had a twinkle in his eye as if all of life was a game and he’d just found a new side quest to complete.

“Hiya, Wakatoshi!” The red-haired man said cheerfully. “Nice job catching the cat! She’s fast, huh!”

“Satori, is this your cat?” Kat’s current captor asked, his voice deep and smooth.

The first one, Satori apparently, shook his head. “Nope! I was just in the art building about to go to class and then there was a cat!”

“You’re covered in paint.”

“So’s the cat.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

Satori jumped up and down excitedly. “I’m gonna take care of her! We’re gonna go and—”

“Satori, you have class right now.”

“I... I can get away with skipping one class.”

“You’ve skipped before...”

Satori’s expression darkened slightly. But not a lot. “Well, she still needs me! So I’ll skip anyway!”

Wakatoshi raised one eyebrow slightly. “It’s wearing a collar. You can’t take someone else’s cat.”

Satori frowned and took a step closer, reaching his hand out toward Kat’s neck. “She does?”

“How do you know it’s a she?” Wakatoshi asked.

Satori shrugged. “She’s too pretty to be a boy cat.”

“I see... Either way, someone’s looking for her. I’ll take her to the front office and you have to go to class.”

Satori scuffed his foot on the ground. “Alright, I guess. Hey, thanks, Wakatoshi, for taking care of her! I’ll see you later, alright!?” brightening up again almost instantly, Satori began skipping backward, waving eagerly.

Kat didn’t realize that her eyes were fixated solely on him until Wakatoshi started moving and she snapped out of her trance. She didn’t want to be taken to the main office. She didn’t belong to anyone. She just needed to get home.

Hesitantly, Kat let out a soft meow, drawing Wakatoshi’s eyes downward.

She meowed a few more times with more intensity and tried to pull herself away from the hands locked around her, leaning back in the direction of her apartment.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Wakatoshi asked quietly, his gentle tone seeming out of place for someone who looked so daunting, but Kat got the impression he didn’t mean harm to anyone.

Kat leaned again in the direction she wanted to go and Wakatoshi slowed his pace toward the office. One more persuasive meow and Kat was now being carried toward home.

As the two cleared the campus boundary Kat pulled with more strength. She could practically see home from here.

“I don’t know where you’re going, but you seem like a smart cat,” Wakatoshi commented. “Satori would be mad if I just let you go, but you’re probably just trying to get home, aren’t you.”

Kat mewed impatiently.

Wakatoshi’s gentle hands shifted the small collar around her neck. “Katrina. Is that your name?”

While he was distracted, Kat slipped out of Wakatoshi’s grasp and jumped to the ground. She paused a moment and meowed at him again before walking toward the edge of the intersection.

Wakatoshi took a few quick steps after her, but paused when he saw Kat waiting patiently for the traffic light to turn green then strutted down the crosswalk. Wakatoshi paused and watched, her, electing not to go after her.

After all, Kat had a home to go back to and she needed to figure out what was going on here.


	2. Chapter 2

It hadn’t taken Kat more than three seconds to realize that there was really no way for her to get to her apartment. Aside from the fact that she was, evidently,  _ a cat _ , she’d left her bag with her keys in the art classroom.

However, at the moment of the epiphany, she was in the middle of crossing the street and Wakatoshi was standing on the curb behind her, still watching and expecting her to know what she was doing.

With no better ideas, Kat went back to her apartment anyway. There were a few bushes along the sidewalk that she curled up under to wait for nightfall. The best plan she could think of was coming to her slowly, but soon she was confident she could find a way to a safe place until she could figure out how to turn herself human again.

Dusk settled over the small college town and the traffic died down from the steady drone to only the occasional car zipping by every few minutes.

Kat wasn’t sure what time it was exactly, but it had been dark for a while and she was aching to move again.

She’d known that if she would have roamed around in the daylight, she would’ve attracted far too much attention considering she was still bright orangey red with paint.

Kat was stiff at first when she extracted herself from the bush since the long time she’d spent hidden, the paint had been slowly drying. She shook herself out and could feel matted tips of fur sticking together and standing on end. It itched too, but Kat resisted the temptation to lick herself. The chemicals in the paint were certainly not safe for consumption.

It wouldn’t be long until she was going to be safe and warm and clean again. Once that was in order, she could focus on getting herself back into human form somehow.

 

Unfortunately, on short, stubby cat legs, the walk that normally took a maximum of twenty minutes, took three times as long.

Kat’s sister lived only a few blocks away and she and her boyfriend were avid cat people. They had two of their own and had rescued off the streets before. There was no reason they wouldn’t take in a scared, paint-coated kitten crying on their doorstep.

Kat was thoroughly exhausted after the walk that took many times more energy than normal. When she arrived on the familiar doorstep, the lights were all turned out. She meowed a few times as loudly as she could, but no response came from inside the house.

Kat would’ve rolled her eyes if she could’ve at her bad luck in arriving at an inconvenient time. At the very least, she wanted to get into the backyard to provide the littlest bit of protection from the world at night. Kat lived in a pretty tame city, but she’d never tried living there as a cat before.

There was a small opening in the fence around the property and Kat squeezed herself through.

“Hey! Who’s there!”

Kat froze, fear and hope coursing through her simultaneously, hoping that it was her sister noticing her presence. It hadn’t sounded like her though.

“ _ Excuse me _ , I’m talking to you!” the unfamiliar voice called out again. “You think you’re invisible in the center of the fucking lawn? Either get the hell out of my yard or come challenge me.”

Curious, Kat padded over to the house, looking up at the open window.

“C’mon, get up here!”

Kat took a deep breath. The window was awfully high up... Kat shook off her fear and jumped. Without trying, she never would’ve guessed that she could spring all the way up to the windowsill or stay perched on the thin wood with little difficulty.

“About fucking time.”

Kat wasn’t sure how a cat could look so annoyed, but the effect was well-achieved.

“Olive?” Kat recognized her sister’s cat immediately.

Olive narrowed her eyes. “Do I know you? Are you a guy? I don’t need any other girls here. I’m the lady of the house here and you’d only create more competition.”

Kat didn’t know how to respond to that. Luckily, she didn’t have to as another cat hopped onto the desk by the window inside.

“Olive? Who are you talking to?”

“W-Winston!” Kat yelled excitedly.

“Look at this punk,” Olive grumbled. “Infringing on  _ my  _ territory and not even here to flirt with me.”

“Is Olive in heat?” Kat asked, unamused.

“Olive’s always in heat,” Winston replied, equally sarcastic.

“Alright, but what actually do you want?” Olive asked.

“Don’t you recognize me? It’s Katrina!”

“Um, not to offend you, but Trina’s a human,” Winston said meekly.

Kat groaned. “I! Got! Turned! Into! A! Cat! Isn’t that obvious?”

“You smell gross,” Olive retorted.

“It’s paint,” Kat complained. “Okay, listen, you have to let me in. I need someplace to stay until I figure out how to turn myself back into a human.”

“No! Mom doesn’t need any more cats to take care of! Especially ones that are covered in paint and are nicer than me!”

“Olive, I don’t see why she can’t...” Winston contributed.

“When I’m back to my normal self, you’re going to be the first one to know about it!” Kat threatened. “Stop being such a brat!”

“What are you going to do for me in return if I let you stay here?” Olive asked slyly.

“That’s not up to you! Just get my sister to open the front door!”

“You have to make sure I get double food and all of your money goes to buying me treats and toys.”

“Hell no! Winston, go get someone to let me in, okay?”

“I... I don’t want to wake mom up... But I want to let you in...”

“Face it, you don’t have anywhere else to go so you’re going to have to promise everything to me!” Olive sat back triumphantly.

“Oh, I can find somewhere else, no problem,” Kat sassed. “There are plenty of places that I can go until I figure stuff out.”

“Well, good luck with that then.” Olive stood up and padded away haughtily.

“Winston, c’mon, help me out here!” Kat pleaded when Olive was out of sight.

“I don’t think I can...” The small, tan cat replied. “Sorry... I have to go... Olive’s not going to let you stay here.”

With that, Winston left as well and Kat was alone again. She jumped down from the windowsill and walked quietly to one corner of the property. She’d be at least a little safer here than on the streets. She curled up in the grass for a restless sleep.

 

The first thing that his Kat upon awakening late in the morning was just how hungry she was. She hadn’t eaten before she’d left for class so after the day’s adventures, she was really running on empty now. She needed to find food and shelter.

She knew she’d be safest from the outside world in her sister’s house, but on the flip side, Olive was very territorial and would be hard to convince to let her in.

Kat had one idea left and it was far from secure, but it was an idea.

She tracked down a bit of food in the form of a cold, disgusting, half-eaten sandwich by a trash can outside a restaurant. She wouldn’t normally even think of eating something so gross, but her options were very limited and she had no knowledge of how to live on the street.

Taking the pace slow, she made it back over to her university in what she estimated was a little under two hours. Crossing the streets was much more dangerous and scary in the daylight with cars zooming past at every moment.

Finally, Kat found herself back on the familiar campus. She loitered for a while by the art building, keeping vigilant of the doors and who came and went.

What she wanted was to find Satori, the kind, red-haired stranger from the previous day. He’d seemed incredibly kind and eager to take in a cat. Kat would surely be able to stay with him until she figured out what had happened to her.

 

At least two more hours passed with no sign of the man. Kat couldn’t help feeling a little frustrated. He probably came to class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, just like she did. She didn’t want to wait a whole extra day until he’d be back. She didn’t want to spend another night outside, scared and unprotected.

Kat started walking along one of the sidewalks between buildings. She’d taken this route yesterday when fleeing and there was a chance she’d run into someone else who might help her.

It was about the right time of the day and Kat almost leapt for joy when she saw him.

It was the bigger man, and gosh, from down here, he looked massive. Yesterday Wakatoshi had seemed hesitant to let Kat stick around, but maybe Kat would be able to get him to take her to Satori.

Kat ran forward and meowed softly.

Almost instantly, the large man turned and looked at her.

Stopping and sitting by Wakatoshi’s feet, Kat’s heart was racing as she looked straight up at the towering man.

“You again,” Wakatoshi mused. “Why are you still dirty? I thought you went home.”

Kat put her paw against the side of his leg. Would he understand that she needed help? He had to, it was the only way.

Wakatoshi carefully bent down and Kat hopped into his arms, meowing again in gratitude.

“I can’t take you home with me... I live in the dorms here and we’re not allowed to have pets. I imagine Satori would be elated to see that you’re back though. If that’s okay with you.”

Kat sat still in his hands. That was perfect. The quicker she could find some temporary shelter, the quicker she’d be able to figure out how to turn herself back into a human.

 

Wakatoshi was silent as he walked, carrying Kat across a few streets to an apartment complex. It looked a little nicer than her own and she wondered more about this strange Satori. Hopefully, he would take her in for the time being. She’d love to stay someplace that looked as cushy as this.

Kat bounced contentedly in Wakatoshi’s arms up a flight of stairs. Wakatoshi knocked firmly on the white door.

They waited almost a full minute before it was thrown open and Kat’s heart skipped a few beats. Satori looked very surprised to see Wakatoshi standing outside his door and his cheeks looked a little pink. In fact, he was clothed in some black shorts that only came down to his mid-thigh, so his mild embarrassment was probably warranted.

He composed himself almost instantly though and stood up straight and proud. “Wakatoshi! What brings you here today?”

Wakatoshi silently held Kat out a few inches from his chest.

Satori’s eyes widened. “Why did you bring her back here? I thought you took her to the office.”

“I was going to,” Wakatoshi explained, “but she seemed to know where she was trying to go and she knew how to cross the street so I let her go. Then today, she came and found me again.”

Satori rushed forward and scooped Kat out of Wakatoshi’s arms, holding her up in the air and smiling broadly. “She came back and you brought her to me! Wakatoshi, thank you! I can take good care of her!”

“I still think she belongs to someone,” Wakatoshi said. “She has a collar but no address.”

“Katrina!” Satori rubbed his fingers over the cold, silver tag hanging around Kat’s neck and chipped some of the dry paint off the edges. “I can help you find home, Katrina! Until then, you can stay with me!”

“Satori, are you sure you want to take on this job?” Wakatoshi asked hesitantly.

“Absolutely! Hey, are you busy? We need to help her! She’s still all covered with paint from yesterday and now it’s all gross and dried. We can give her a bath in the sink! Will you stay and help me with her?”

Wakatoshi nodded curtly and followed Satori inside.

“Welcome to my home, Katrina! I mean, it’s not totally mine; I share it with someone else, but you can stay here until we find where you belong! Now let’s get you cleaned up! Wakatoshi, do you know if there are good ways to get dried paint out of cat fur?”

“I believe shampoo should work fine.” Wakatoshi shut the front door softly as he entered.

Kat looked around the apartment eagerly. It was bigger than her own for sure, furnished with a couch and an armchair, a large TV, a kitchen table, and a dark brown bookshelf. There were several doors off the main room, bedrooms, Kat figured. Satori had said he shared the apartment with someone else though it didn’t look like that other person was currently present.

The kitchen was a decent size as well and Kat was gently set into the bottom of the stainless steel sink.

“Okay, you might not like this...” Satori started, turning on the faucet.

Kat jumped slightly at the frigid temperature of the water.

“Ah! Sorry! That’s really cold!” Satori fixed his mistake and Kat found herself relaxing a little more with warm water rising up around her in the bottom of the sink.

Wakatoshi left for a moment and came back with a bottle of shampoo from the bathroom that Satori took easily.

He poured a bit into his hands and started gently rubbing it over Kat’s back.

Kat immediately enjoyed the sensation. The soap worked effectively to get the dried paint out of her fur and she couldn’t deny that having Satori’s hands carefully washing her felt nice.

Wakatoshi stood beside Satori, not actively helping with the bath but watching quietly and nodding along to Satori’s excited rambling.

“I’ve always wanted a cat, but the opportunity just never presented itself!” Satori was saying. “But this is perfect! I always wanted to get a rescue cat too so I could feel like I was helping someone! And she’s perfect! If we can’t find her owner, I’ll just keep her forever and I’ll buy a cat bed for her or she can just sleep in my bed!”

“You should take her to the vet,” Wakatoshi advised. “We still don’t know what her background is.”

“She looks okay, but good idea! We have to make sure she’s totally healthy! Wakatoshi, isn’t this great that she came back to you? Maybe she was looking for us! We were nice to her yesterday so she knew she could trust us!”

“Do you think so?”

“I’m almost positive!” Satori smiled down at Kat, rubbing the last bits of paint from her fur. “Do you trust me, Kitten?”

Kat mewed softly. She wanted to tell him that yes, she did trust him. She was immeasurably grateful to him for taking her in and promising her shelter. He was also extremely attractive and when she went back to being human, she’d most certainly have something to say to him on that end.

Satori rinsed Kat off once more and drained the water in the sink, grabbing a clean, white dish towel, rubbing that gently over her body now.

Kat finally felt warm and comfortable without all the paint on her and she knew she’d be safe with Satori.

“Wow, without all the paint, you’re a really pretty cat.” Satori looked a little shell-shocked.

Kat looked herself over as best as she could. Her fur appeared to be bright gold with the slightest hint of red mixed in.

“A strawberry blonde, are ya?” Satori winked and set her down on the counter.

Kat paced the surface for a moment, keeping her eyes on Satori. 

“Hey, you’re probably hungry, aren’t you!” Satori jumped toward the fridge. “I think there’s chicken in here. Chicken is good for cats right?”

“Chicken will be good for her,” Wakatoshi confirmed, “but you should go get some real cat food tomorrow.”

Satori set a few pieces of chicken on a plate. “Oh, I will! And I’ll take her to the vet. She’s going to be the happiest cat ever!”

“Do you have the money to pay for the vet visit?” Wakatoshi asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

Satori didn’t make eye contact. “I’ll figure it out.”

“You could ask one of the vet med students at school to look her over. Someone there would probably be willing to do it for free or cheap.”

“That’s a really good idea! Tsutomu went to vet med when he switched from ecology, right? Is he still in vet med?”

Wakatoshi nodded. “He seemed hesitant to leave ecology but I think he’s a lot happier working with animals.”

“Awesome!” Satori remembered the chicken and set the plate on the counter in front of Kat.

Kat dove for the chicken eagerly. This was the most she’d gotten to eat in two days and she was famished.

“Woah, you’re really hungry, aren’t you!” Satori got out some more chicken.

“Careful not to overfeed her,” Wakatoshi warned.

“I know, I know. She’s so hungry though! I bet she’s really glad to get some food!”

Kat finished the chicken and meowed happily. She really wanted to thank Satori formally for his generosity, but unfortunately, she was currently limited to small cat noises.

“Satori, I apologize, but I’m going to have to leave now,” Wakatoshi said. “I have some studying I need to do this afternoon.”

“Of course!” Satori kept his tone bright, but Kat could hear the slight drop in his enthusiasm. “Do you want to come with me to take Katrina to Tsutomu’s tomorrow?”

“I have class at 10, but if you were going to take her in earlier, I’d be happy to come with you.”

“That’s really early! That’s okay though. I’ll wake up! I’ll text Tsutomu tonight and make sure that’s alright!”

“Okay. I’ll see you in the morning then.”

“Yeah! I’ll be ready for you!”

The two men started walking toward the door and Kat jumped off the counter to follow them.

“Thanks again for bringing her here and for hanging out with me, Wakatoshi! I had a lot of fun!”

Wakatoshi nodded. “You’re welcome. I hope you don’t get behind on whatever you were working on before I arrived.”

Satori waved his hand dismissively. “I was just painting, you’re fine!”

Wakatoshi gave a small wave and stepped outside. “Bye.”

“Bye, Wakatoshi!!” Satori waved with his whole arm and stood in the doorway until Wakatoshi had disappeared down the stairs and left the building.

Finally, he looked back down at Kat and smiled broadly. “And that, Katrina, is the best man you will ever meet. Come on back inside. I’ll show you around the apartment!”


	3. Chapter 3

Satori bounced back inside his apartment and Kat had to scamper quickly to keep up with his dancing movements.

“I’m not sure if you can understand me, but I’ll explain anyway. My name is Tendou Satori! Remember that! If you ever get lost again, go to the police and tell them that you want to come back to Tendou Satori! Who you just had the supreme pleasure of meeting was Ushijima Wakatoshi! He’s a little odd, but I like him a lot! We were in the same class in high school our first year and we both played volleyball, but I didn’t talk to him much after that because I had to go to a different school after that which sucked but we go to the same college now so it’s okay! He’s really smart and he’s a plant major! There’s a word for it, but it’s really big and I don’t really know if I’m pronouncing it right. It’s something to do with ecology. I dunno. He’s amazing though! He’s really nice and he never refuses to help anyone and he even helped you! He helped me a lot too. I’m not really that good at school, so he helps me study sometimes. I do art! I’ll show you some of the things I’ve painted! Sometimes I think about Wakatoshi and it gives me ideas to paint too. I’ll show you those ones too because I think those ones are some of my favorites! He’s just a majestic person, okay...”

Suddenly the front door opened again and another man stepped inside. He wasn’t quite as tall as Satori or quite as cheerful. A sarcastic frown split his face and dark eyes peered cynically at Satori as he brushed the black tips of his light-colored hair out of his face. “Satori, what are you— is that a cat?”

“Eita!” Satori smiled broadly and picked Kat up. “You have to meet Katrina! Isn’t she pretty?”

Eita raised an eyebrow. “Is this what you were telling me about yesterday?”

“Uh-huh! After Wakatoshi took her, he let her go to try to find home, but then she came back to him so Wakatoshi brought her over here! She was still all covered with paint and dirt so she must’ve spent last night outside and alone! Such a good cat never deserves that so we washed her in the sink! She can stay, right? Because we’re allowed to have pets and I’ll take full responsibility and you don’t have to help me out at all.”

Eita still looked a touch skeptical. “As long as you take care of her and she doesn’t cause any problems, scratching furniture or anything.”

Satori bounced Kat in his arms. “She would never! She’s a  _ lady _ .”

Eita rolled his eyes. “Alright, whatever.”

“Can you drive me to Wal-Mart to get her food?”

“I thought you said you were going to take full responsibility and I wouldn’t have to do anything.”

“You don’t! I was just asking...”

Eita brushed past Satori and pushed open one of the other doors. “I have studying to do. I imagine you do as well, but she’s your pet to take care of.”

“It’s fine! It’ll be good to get some fresh air!” Satori grabbed his wallet and keys and shoved them into his pocket with one hand while still cradling Kat in his other arm.

“You’re taking her?” Eita asked.

“Well, I didn’t want to have to leave her here with you. Can I take a cat into Wal-Mart?”

“Probably. At least find a bag or something to carry her in.”

“That’s okay, I’ll just carry her! Uh... Hey, Eita, would you mind loaning me a couple dollars?”

Eita sighed, digging into his pocket. “You need to pay me back for all the shit I’ve loaned you at some point, you know.”

Satori bounced on the balls of his feet. “I know! I will! Promise! You’re the first person I pay back once I find an income!”

“I better be,” Eita grumbled, stepping forward to slap a messily folded $20 bill in Satori’s hand. “Is that enough?”

“Yeah, thanks, Eita. I have some of my own, just probably not enough. But this should be good. Thanks! See you soon!” With that, Satori jumped out the front door and shut it quickly behind him.

He smiled down at Kat and started walking toward Wal-Mart. “Sorry about that. Eita’s one of my best friends, but sometimes he’s a little... I dunno. Hey, do you want to ride on my shoulder? I could be like a pirate but instead of a parrot, I have a cat on my shoulder!” He lifted Kat to place her on his shoulder.

Kat caught her claws in his shirt before she fell. Her balance may have improved upon becoming a cat, but this wasn’t going to work.

“Oh well,” Satori said lightly, taking Kat back in his arms. “This works too. At least you don’t move around too much while I hold you. You’re a good cat.”

Kat meowed softly, content to be held and bounced slightly while Satori walked. The jostling was a bit uncomfortable, but it was better than walking and Satori had a fun spring in his step.

Satori began humming a tune while he walked and Kat purred. He was a little off-key, but overall, it was a pleasing sound.

 

Satori held Kat closer against his chest as they arrived at the Wal-Mart, already hot and tired. “I’m not sure if you’re allowed in here, but I’ll try to be subtle so they won’t notice...”

They made it to the pet section without alerting suspicion. An attendant by the fish caught on pretty quickly.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but we can’t let you bring your cat in here. You’re going to have to put her outside or in your car or something.”

“Ah! Sorry, it’s just for a minute or two! She likes to pick out her own food so I let her smell it and choose which one she likes! That’s all we’re doing and we’ll go back outside after that, I promise!”

The attendant raised an eyebrow. “Picky?”

Satori nodded exaggeratedly. “Very. Usually, they let me bring her in here for just a few minutes.”

“Alright, I guess that’s fine then.”

“Thanks! Sorry to bother you!” Satori flashed a winning smile and hurried to the aisle with the cat food.

“Sorry for throwing you under the bus,” he whispered to Kat. “I didn’t want to leave you outside! Do you have a preference of what food you get? What did your old owners give you? Man, how are we going to find them?”

Kat wasn’t too keen on cat food and figured she’d try to sneak more chicken again, but she supposed until she could figure out how to turn herself back into a human, she’d have to put up with what she could get. She didn’t want to burden Satori either with expensive food or a lot of maintenance. She looked for the cheapest food option that looked decent and batted at it with her paw.

“That’s what you get? You’re a smart one, Katrina! Oh! We should look at some bags though like Eita said! I want to be able to take you places so having a little bag for you to ride around in would be a good idea!”

Satori skipped to an aisle with a few assorted backpacks and luggage parcels then set Kat down on the floor. “Do you like any of these?”

Kat looked around. Once again, she was a little overwhelmed by how big everything was in comparison to her. She didn’t exactly relish the idea of riding around in a backpack either. Sure, she’d love to go places with Satori sometimes when she wasn’t busy trying to work out how she’d been turned into a cat, but she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to handle Satori’s skipping and swinging arms from inside a bag.

“Hey, Katrina, what about this one?” Satori called softly.

Kat turned to look at her rescuer.

Satori was sitting on the floor now too, a small, white duffel bag in front of him. “Come sit in here!”

Kat cautiously padded over and stepped into the bag.

“This one seems perfect!” Satori said excitedly. “It’s a little big so I can put some other stuff in here too like some snacks for you! And it’s got pockets so maybe I can even put my materials for class in here and I can take you with me! After all, I found you in the art building so maybe your real owner is there and we’ll run into them!”

Kat disregarded the last bit, knowing they’d never run into her “previous owner” in the art building or anywhere. She circled once inside the bag and sat down.

Satori grinned widely. “Are you comfy? You look comfy. We’ll put a pillow or something in the bottom when we get home so you have something soft to lay on! It can be your little portable home! You can come with me everywhere!”

Kat mewed happily from the bag. Satori’s excitement was contagious and she felt herself getting excited about being able to ride around with him. Especially if she had a pillow and snacks in the bag with her.

Satori picked the bag up and Kat stumbled a little bit and laid down for the ride, her head poking out the top. Satori laughed, a light, carefree sound and watched her fondly as he made his way over to the checkout lanes.

“I’ve always wanted to ride on the little conveyor belt at stores,” Satori said, setting the bag down with Kat still in it. You’re lucky! It’s going to be an exciting ride!”

Kat was slightly nervous but the slow trip down the conveyor belt was pretty fun.

Satori grinned at the cashier who was looking at his purchases skeptically.

“Hi,” he said. “That’s my cat. Do you like her? She’s pretty, isn’t she.”

The cashier cracked a half smile and pushed some hair behind her ear. “She looks like a good cat. I don’t think we allow pets in here generally though...”

“Oh, it’s okay, she has to pick out her own food because she’s picky and the guy in the pet department said it was okay to have her in here for just a few minutes. She’s a really well-behaved cat so you don’t have to worry.”

“Alright then.” The cashier scanned the tag on the duffel and Satori picked it back up, taking the bag of cat food as well. “Thank you! Have a good rest of your day!”

She waved and smiled. “You as well. Thank you for coming in.”

Satori waved and skipped back toward the exit.

As long as Kat kept her head out the top of the bag, the rocking and swinging of the bag in time with Satori’s dancing movements was bearable.

Satori started singing again for the rest of the walk home, sounding pleased with his successes at the store.

 

Letting himself back into the apartment, Satori immediately called out. “Eita, I did what you told me and I found a cool bag to carry Katrina in!”

One of the doors open and Eita poked his head out, still looking vaguely irritated. “Great, I’m proud of you.”

Satori grinned and set the bag down on the floor, kneeling to unzip the top pocket all the way to allow Kat to jump out. “Hey, you still have to formally meet her! She needs to know who she’s going to be living with!”

Eita made his way into the living room space and knelt down by Satori and Kat, reaching out a hand.

If Satori trusted Eita, Kat didn’t have many reservations about him either and she allowed herself to be scratched on the top of her head.

Satori ran his hand down Kat’s back and she purred. She almost liked this whole cat thing. It meant a lot of gentle petting and she couldn’t deny that it felt great.

“So you just found her at the school, right?” Eita asked.

“Mhm,” Satori said absently, stroking Kat. “Covered in paint and sprinting away from me. Turns out she wanted to find me again though. I’m very okay with that. She’s a good one, I can already tell.”

“You’re going to try and find her owner though, right?”

“Of course! On Tuesday when I was in class, I asked if anyone had lost a cat since she was running around the art building but no one seemed to know anything. I’ll keep looking around though and I think I’ll bring her with me to class sometimes and see if anyone knows her.”

“You can’t bring a cat to class...”

Satori winked. “Just watch me.”

Eita cracked a smile. “Ten bucks says you get busted.”

“You’re on!”

“So do you have a plan for her until you find her owner?”

“I’m going to keep her with me, obviously! When I was talking to Wakatoshi, he said that I could probably take her to Tsutomu. He’s vet med now and he’d be willing to look at her just to make sure she’s healthy. Oh! I should probably text Tsutomu and make sure we can come over!”

Eita smirked. “Good idea. Knowing him though, he’ll be ecstatic to see you again.”

“Have you talked to Tsutomu lately?”

“Not as much as I’d like. He’s a good kid though.”

Satori grinned and jumped up. “He is! He’s gonna go far!”

Eita smiled. “Satori, I have one question for you. That bag you bought for carrying Katrina? Why is it white? It’s so... blah for your style.”

Satori lit up yet more, spinning in a circle. “It’s so that I can paint it and make it super cool on my own! I’ve got some fabric paint in my room somewhere so I can give it some personality!”

Eita laughed under his breath and moved to the kitchen. “You have fun with that. Don’t neglect any homework you have to do. And don’t get paint on anything.”

Satori bounded toward one of the doors off the main living room. “I won’t! C’mon, Katrina!”

Kat found herself enjoying the excited chatter of this human and his carefree nature. She followed after him, anticipating what sort of excitement she’d find in his bedroom.

 

She was met with a disaster zone.

 

Satori had to shove the door against a pile of dirty laundry and even then, it only opened about a foot and a half. Satori slipped inside the tight gap with a bit of difficulty though Kat was able to run through pretty easily.

Brightly colored clothes littered the floor along with canvases, blank, solid-colored, or fully decorated with paints of every color. The bed against the wall was an unkempt mess of blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals. There was a desk, but it was buried under another mound of paper, pencils, paint brushes, markers, ink pens, half-used erasers, projects, doodles, sketchbooks, and a beat-up laptop.

Kat had thought that her own artist’s lair of an apartment was a mess, but this couldn’t even be charted on the same graph.

“Sorry it’s not too neat. I wasn’t expecting guests,” Satori mumbled, kicking over a stack of books in order to clear a path to the bed.

Kat leapt to the bed, ignoring the mess on the floor. She wasn’t bothered by any of it, but she didn’t want to disturb any of his possessions.

Satori threw himself onto the bed as well and quickly grabbed his phone to text Tsutomu. He looked over at Kat and smiled again. “Can I take a picture of you? I want to document the best day of my life where I met the best cat ever!”

Kat paced the bed nervously. She wasn’t huge on unplanned-for photo shoots, but she supposed it was okay because it was Satori. And she was a cat.

Kat sat still while Satori snapped a couple quick photos, smiling the entire time.

“You’re such a pretty cat,” Satori said softly, reaching out to scratch Kat’s head. “Your owner is very lucky! But I’m really lucky too to be able to know you and take care of you for a little while! I hope you’re happy here while I have you... Ah! Tsutomu texted back!”

Satori grabbed his vibrating phone and grinned when he saw the message. “He says yes, Katrina! It’s going to be an early morning, but it’ll be worth it. You look like you’re doing okay, but it’s always better to be sure, right? Hey, let’s decorate your bag!”

Satori jumped off his bed and clambered over piles of stuff to his desk where he shifted things around and threw some of it on the floor. “I know I have a set of fabric paint here... I haven’t used it in a long time though... I’ve only used it once, actually. I just bought it because it called to me. Maybe it was fate telling me that I needed it for you! Do you think fate exists, Katrina? —Oh! Here’s my fabric paint!— Do cats believe in fate? Sometimes I think that when things happen for no reason, it’s because it’s part of some bigger picture.”

He jumped back onto the bed and pulled the clean, white duffel bag into his lap. “Actually, if I hadn’t had to move after my first year of high school, I don’t think I would’ve become an artist! So even though I was really sad then, I’m happy now!” He frowned and looked at Kat. “What color should I make this? I always think of red when I think of you because of all the red paint you were covered in when I found you. Is red okay? Red’s my favorite color. Which is good! Because I’m stuck with red hair! We’re going with red.”

Kat watched quietly as Satori pulled a few paint brushes off the floor and began dragging paint over the bristles and throwing it onto the bag, staining the white canvas with his love.

Kat watched him write her name across the side of the bag in bold, careful strokes, then cover the rest of the space with abstract swirls of the several different bright colors that blended together into a swirling aurora of pigment that Kat couldn’t look away from. The bright hues looked better together than she would’ve thought and she was going to be happy to ride around in this bag.

“Do you like it, Katrina?” Satori asked, not looking up from his work. “The colors are pretty bold, but I think it’ll be exciting to look at! Art is super fun like this, you know? I like all colors and I have some stuff I’ve done before that’s really dark or muted and I love those too, but for fun, bright colors are the only way to go. Someday, I want to be able to draw and paint all day every day and make a profit! Art isn’t the most stable career choice, but it’s so much fun that I can’t imagine doing anything else! I love being able to create what I want, though sometimes it’s hard to please other people when everyone has their own individual style. Some people hate mine. Honestly, I try to keep an open mind about other people’s and even if it’s something that I wouldn’t ever do myself, I can usually respect other people for how they like to do things. There’s no rulebook in art. I think that’s what I like about it! It’s so open! Hey, I should show you some of my stuff!!”

Satori sprang up from the bed and tripped over a pile of paper. “Oh, these ones are cool too, those aren’t what I wanted to show you because I can’t decide if I even like them anymore, but it’s something!”

Several ink sketches were flung in front of Kat and she looked at them eagerly. They were incredibly detailed with quick precise lines crisscrossing the paper. The style was very realistic and could’ve been mistaken for a black and white photograph if you held it far enough away to not see the individual strokes.

A canvas was tossed on top of the ink drawing and Kat jumped slightly away. This one was bold and bright with many different colors and smooth lines and abstract shapes. Even with such a drastic style change, Kat was in love with everything she’d seen so far.

“I like being in art classes because I get to try lots of different things! I’m not sure if I’ve really been able to find  _ my style _ yet but being able to try so many different mediums and styles is definitely helping! Creating something new always makes me feel good!”

Kat sat happily on the pillow. Seeing him get happy about drawing made her happy too. She knew all too well of the feeling of satisfaction from finishing something and trying new styles.

Satori sat down on the edge of the bed and shoved his work onto the floor. Kat inwardly cringed. He was so casual about all of this, but Kat knew that in this disorganized room, paper was being folded and beautiful works probably ruined. Why didn’t he mind that he wasn’t taking care of these masterpieces?

Satori scratched Kat’s head, snapping her out of her thoughts. “We have to get up early tomorrow to take you to Tsutomu. This is a lot earlier than I usually go to bed, but maybe I’ll try to get some extra sleep... You can sleep if you want. I’m probably going to try sketching a while first.”

Satori pulled himself all the way onto the bed and sat against the wall, pulling a sketchbook off his bedside table into his lap, knocking a few trinkets onto the floor in the process though, once again, he didn’t seem to care.

Kat started to lay down a few inches away from him, tired from her extremely long and busy day.

“Hey, c’mere!” Satori said softly, pulling Kat against his side. “I’m going to draw you so stay close!”

Kat tensed for a fraction of a second. She was pressed tightly against another person who, coincidentally, she found to be very attractive. Technically, it was normal to cuddle with a cat, but it still felt a little weird. But hey, an opportunity like this probably wouldn’t come up often. If she was stuck as a cat for now, she would take advantage of that. Kat purred and nuzzled her head against Satori’s side, enjoying his warmth.

Satori chuckled, petting her for a few minutes before reaching for a pencil. “You’re a good cat, Katrina. Pretty too. I’m going to sketch you a lot, I think.”

Kat closed her eyes while Satori sketched. Once she meowed and prompted him to flip his sketchbook around to show her the progress and she was quite pleased. He was a really good artist no matter the medium or what he was trying to sketch.

Satori hummed while he drew, taking quick breaks every few minutes to let his mind unfocus while he pet Kat or stretched his arms.

Kat wanted to stay awake to see the finished result but that task proved to be increasingly impossible as the trying day started to get to her and she drifted into a peaceful sleep, warm, safe, fed, and happy: a nice contrast to the previous night.


	4. Chapter 4

“Satori!”

Kat opened her eyes at the loud voice, startled. The sun was leaking in through the window and throwing light over the bedroom. Somehow in the different lighting, it looked even messier than it had last night.

Satori shifted beside her and groaned softly.

“Satori!”

There was a loud banging on the door, then it slammed open as best as it could with all the stuff in the way. Eita stuck his head in, glaring. “Dude, what the fuck. Wake up!”

Kat helped by pawing at Satori’s chest and tugging on one of the several bracelets around his wrists as he dragged himself into a sitting position.

“What is it,” Satori slurred.

“Wakatoshi is here, he said you guys were—!”

Satori jumped out of bed, suddenly awake. “I forgot to set an alarm! No, no, no! That’s okay, I’m ready, I’m fine! Tell him I’ll be out in a second!”

Eita exhaled heavily and slammed the door shut behind him as he left.

“Dang it!” Satori complained, throwing a hoodie over his sleep-wrinkled t-shirt and pulling jeans on. “I can’t believe I forgot to set an alarm! I was busy thinking last night and sketching and I totally spaced it! I’m not irresponsible, I promise!”

Kat jumped helpfully into her bag so Satori could grab her and rush out the door thirty seconds later.

“Hey, Wakatoshi!” Satori ran a hand through his hair and shoved his feet into some shoes, smiling brightly. “Sorry for making you wait.”

“No matter,” Wakatoshi said, nodding slightly. “How is Katrina?”

“She’s good!” Satori handed the duffel bag to Wakatoshi while he finished fixing his shoes. “She’s a really sweet cat and very polite and super smart! I sketched her last night and it turned out really well. Can I show you later?”

“You may show me whatever you like,” Wakatoshi replied, gently petting Kat’s head. “Have you been carrying her around in this bag?”

“Mhm! It’s more convenient and comfortable for her and I think she likes it. I painted it last night, see? Now it’s really bright and exciting!”

“It certainly is bright,” Wakatoshi commented, handing the bag back over as Satori held the door open for him.

“I’m hoping that it’ll attract attention so I can find her real owner. I know they must be worried about her and I’m sure she wants to go back to them as well. Woah, it’s a really nice day!”

Kat too was enjoying the coolness of the early morning and the bright sunlight. She was rarely up this early and she didn’t intend to change her habit, but on this one occasion, it wasn’t too bad.

Wakatoshi made a comment about the weather and Satori chattered back happily to him. Kat’s bag was handed back over to Wakatoshi so Satori could skip and dance in circles around Wakatoshi while they walked.

 

The medical area of the college was on a side of campus that Satori rarely went to normally. He had had many adventures exploring the cluster of buildings just for the fun of it and he’d spent some time with Tsutomu the previous year, helping the younger student when he’d decided to change majors.

“This door, right?” Satori bounced ahead and placed his hand on a doorknob in the hallway.

“Next one over.” Wakatoshi passed him and held the next door open.

Satori gently grabbed Katrina’s bag from Wakatoshi’s hands and rushed inside.

The room was neat and furnished with a counter and cabinets full of supplies, a small exam table, and several chairs. It looked like a real veterinary clinic even though technically it was a classroom.

A student with black hair and wide eyes was sitting on the counter but jumped off excitedly as the door opened. There was another student with light brown hair sitting with his legs stretched across all three of the chairs against the wall, though he was typing on a laptop and barely looked up when the visitors arrived.

“Tsutomu!” Satori yelled, giving the man a high-five and jostling Kat in the process.

Kat didn’t really mind enough to do anything about it, but she meowed with annoyance in hopes that he might stop throwing her around so carelessly.

“Ah! Sorry, Katrina!” Satori told her, looking back up at Tsutomu, eyes shining, as he placed the bag down on the table. “Here she is!”

Satori unzipped the top of the bag and Kat hopped onto the table, a little self-conscious with Satori, Wakatoshi, and Tsutomu all staring at her.

Tsutomu’s face lit up. “Woah! Satori, your cat is so cool! When did you get her?”

“Yesterday. I doubt I’ll have her for a long time, but I want to make sure she’s healthy!”

“She looks good!” Tsutomu ran his hand down Kat’s back. “Did you know that you can tell a lot about a cat’s health by their fur? Kinda like with people how if you’re really stressed or eating unhealthy, you get acne. If cats aren’t happy or safe or well-fed their fur can get all gross or start falling out or other bad things. I learned about that in class and it makes for a really easy first check. But her coat looks really nice and it feels soft so she’s probably okay!”

“You can tell just by looking at her fur! That’s so cool! Tsutomu you’re learning so much and you’re going to be great at this!!”

Tsutomu blushed. “Thanks! Since I switched to vet med, I feel a lot more at home!”

Satori grinned. “Good! I’m happy for you!”

Tsutomu nodded, still smiling while he looked Kat over some more, looking in her eyes and ears for any signs of something gone wrong. “She seems really healthy, Satori! Maybe a bit underfed but if you just found her yesterday, I’m not too surprised. Just take good care of her! Maybe give her a bath; she smells like paint. I’m not sure what that means, but I can go look it up...”

Satori laughed. “That’s just because she had paint on her when I found her. Wakatoshi and I washed it off, but yeah, she was bright red when we found her in the art building.”

“The art building?” Tsutomu tilted his head.

Satori smiled, reminiscing. “Yeah, she came sprinting down the hall, covered in paint and meowing really loudly but we didn’t know if she knew what she was doing so we let her be but then she came back yesterday, specifically to us! Isn’t that cool? But I’m going to take her to class and ask around if anyone knows of someone who’s lost a cat recently.”

“That’s really nice of you to take care of her!” Tsutomu exclaimed. And she’s really well-behaved for a cat you found on her own.”

“Isn’t she just the greatest?” Satori said softly, petting Kat some more. “I don’t think I’m going to want to give her back. Thank you for taking the time to look at her, Tsutomu! Especially on such short notice!”

Tsutomu nodded. “No problem! It’s great practice so if you find any other rescue animals, bring them to me so I can keep working on getting better at this!”

“I'm so glad that med is treating you well, Tsutomu!” Satori smiled genuinely.

“Me too,” Tsutomu confirmed. “How’s art life treating you? It's been a long time since we got to talk!”

“Oh! Yeah, art is awesome! I have a lot of fun trying out different styles though I’m still on a quest to find my signature technique.”

“I know you’ll find it!” Tsutomu encouraged. “You always have so many great ideas like that! That’s why your art is always the best art!”

“Thanks, Tsutomu! I should show you some of the things I've done recently! I’m getting a lot better!”

“That's so good! Wakatoshi, are you still having fun with ecology? I didn’t want to leave because I’d met cool people there like you, and I still miss it sometimes!”

The other man had been standing quietly beside Satori for the whole time but nodded slightly now that the attention was on him. “It's a very informative field and I've learned a lot.”

“You need to tell me some of it!” Tsutomu pleaded. “It's still really cool to me even though it’s not as exciting as I’d like.”

“There have been some new developments about the ecosystems during the last ice age that are fascinating. You should look into them if you find the time.”

“Oh, I will! That's awesome! Kenjirou, remind me to go look at that later?”

The man still sprawled across the chairs didn't look up from his computer. “I’m not your fucking day planner, Tsutomu. Remember some other way.”

Satori found himself grinning, enjoying the banter that always inevitably occurred between the two. “Hey, Kenjirou. How’s it going over there?”

“Busy. Pretend I’m not here.”

Satori skipped over, picking Kat off the table and distributing her on Kenjirou’s keyboard.

Kat had been content listening to the conversations between the other men and was a little disoriented for a moment. She pressed a few keys accidentally in trying to move off the keyboard and Kenjirou picked her up to give her back to Satori.

“Cute, but no thank you.”

“Why do you work on assignments in the vet med room then?” Satori asked, spinning around with Kat a few times playfully and nuzzling her face with his nose.

“Because people in the journalism room just try to bounce ideas off each other all the time and there’s this damn annoying photographer who keeps trying to bug me so it’s quieter in here. Even with Tsutomu being... Tsutomu.”

“It’s fine,” Tsutomu said cheerily. “He keeps me company.”

“Really, it’s kinda like having a cat,” Satori commented, holding Kat up. “It’s really nice just to have someone there next to you while you’re doing stuff even if you’re not talking to them. Wakatoshi, we need to hang out and study more often again! You do your plant thing and I’ll practice drawing! Wait— Wakatoshi, you have to go to class soon, right?”

Wakatoshi nodded. “I should be going momentarily.”

“I’ll walk you to class!” Satori quickly but carefully placed Kat back in the duffel bag. “Tsutomu, thank you again for looking at Katrina for me! I’ll talk to you again soon! It was nice to see you again! You too, Kenjirou.”

Kenjirou muttered a “bye” without looking up from his computer. Tsutomu leapt forward to pet Kat’s head again and give Satori a high-five.

“See you later!” Tsutomu chirped as Satori and Wakatoshi exited the room.

“I liked that,” Satori said contentedly. “I don’t know why it’s been such a long time since I’ve gotten to talk to them.”

“We’ve all been pretty busy, you included,” Wakatoshi replied simply.

“True enough. But hey, do you think they’re onto something? We should hang out and just study together sometime! We used to do that last year and I don’t know why we ever stopped!”

“I would be okay with that. It was nice last year to have company while doing assignments.”

“Awesome! I loved it too! I miss having someone in the room with me while I draw.”

“You never show me what you draw though.”

A faint blush dusted Satori’s cheeks and Kat had a sneaking suspicion she knew what Satori drew.

“It’s the thought that counts. Or something. Hey, we could go out this evening! My class only runs until 5 and then we can go get something to eat and we’ll study together like we used to all the time!”

Wakatoshi nodded, stopping as they reached the door to his classroom. “That can be arranged.”

“Alright! I’ll see you then, Wakatoshi! Have fun in class!”

Wakatoshi waved slightly. “I’ll see you later.”

Satori stood still outside the door for a good five extra seconds before Kat meowed quietly to get his attention. Satori heaved a sigh and turned away. “Hey, Katrina? You should probably know something. I’m reeeally in love with him...”


	5. Chapter 5

After stopping back home to grab something to eat and to shower, Satori gathered up his supplies for class and headed back out. He had a class from 11-1 and then another from 1-5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, making them the busiest days of his week. Fridays and Mondays he had class as well, but on Wednesdays, he only had one class every other week.

Satori strolled into class fashionably late at 11:07 and quickly got to work, saying hi to the people around him. They largely looked like they had no interest in talking to their social classmate, but that didn’t keep Satori from making small talk. He made a point to show off Kat and ask if anyone knew someone else who had lost a cat around here recently. No one knew anything so Satori contentedly began his classwork.

Kat had thought she might become bored just sitting around being a cat, but she quickly found that there was nothing boring about watching Satori draw. Pen was one of his favorite mediums, she quickly found out through his excited, babbling narration of his process. He liked the way nice pens flowed over nice paper in smooth lines that he could fully control. The edges were crisp and the lines bold and dark.

“Seriously, stop talking to me. I’m not even listening to you,” commented a girl sitting next to Satori.

“Oh, I’m not talking to you,” Satori replied blithely. “I’m talking to her.”

“Who?”

Satori pointed with the end of his pen to Kat. “Katrina. She likes when I talk to her while I draw.”

Kat mewed in confirmation, reaching a paw out of the bag to bat at one of Satori’s extra pens on the table.

“She has an eye for fine art,” Satori explained. “That’s why she likes watching me. She also gives me good comments on what I can do better. Right, Katrina? Are you my personal art critic?”

The girl stood up and moved to another workstation, leaving Satori alone.

Satori didn’t look too bothered by it. “Oh. Okay. Just you and me then, Katrina. How do we look today?”

Kat meowed at the carefully drawn salamander on Satori’s paper. It was very lifelike and seemed to pop out of the paper. The only thing that made it distinctly unprofessional-looking was the small top hat on the creature’s head. Kat decided it was still beautiful even if the hat made it look a little ridiculous.

“Are you excited to go out tonight with me and Wakatoshi?” Satori kept talking quietly while he stipple shaded more of his drawing. “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten the chance to just hang out with him while we do work. It used to be one of my favorite things to do though. I usually just end up sketching pictures of him though. That’s why I can’t show him what I’m working on while we’re together. He’s just... He’s just nice to draw, you know? Like my hands want to draw him and it just happens. I’m going to try drawing something else tonight though because I think he’s onto me. I’ll think of something!”

 

That class ended and Satori had to immediately go to his next class, fortunately, just down the hall.

Kat noted that it was only one door down from her own classroom that she would’ve been in at this point in time. She pondered that for a moment, wondering the chance that they had been right next door all semester, but only two days ago had they ever run into each other for the first time. Or maybe Kat had passed by him a hundred times but had just never noticed him until he’d been the only one reaching down to grab a paint-covered kitten sprinting out of a classroom. No, there was no way she wouldn’t have noticed him. He was way too distinct not to be noticed.

As soon as class had started and the instructor had informally taken attendance, Satori stood back up, whispering a quick “be right back” to Kat.

He snuck out of the room and was back in only moments, a bag of chips in his hand from a vending machine in the hall.

“This teacher loves me so I hate being late to this class,” Satori explained, plunking back down in his seat. “But I also want food.”

So Satori left this classroom every day just after the beginning of the hour for snacks, Kat realized. Tuesday had just been the first time that she had sprinted out of her own classroom at the exact same time. Still, Satori was only gone for less than a minute on his snack quest so the chances that she would’ve encountered him were slim to none. Maybe it had been a miracle.

Kat thought a little more throughout this class. When she’d left her own class after being turned into a cat, she’d left her bag in the classroom. She wondered if it had been left in the classroom or if had been taken to the lost and found. If she could get a hold of it, she could maybe try to show Satori who she really was. As pleasing as it was to be able to sit on a pillow in a duffel bag and watch this intriguing man draw all day, she had a life of her own to get back to. She felt restless and pretty useless, not doing anything but keep Satori company.

“Oh man!” Satori popped a couple chips into his mouth. “I’m just  _ so _ excited for this evening! Do you think Wakatoshi took it the wrong way? I didn’t mean to ask him to dinner like I was asking him out or something. I promise I didn’t mean for it to be a date! U-unless he wants it to be a date. Then it can be whatever he wants it to be. I just want to sit with him even if we’re both doing separate things and he can do his ecology stuff and talk about plants if he wants. I’ll shut up if he wants to talk about plants! I’d shut up if he wanted to talk about anything! He never asks to talk though! He just lets me talk all the time which is really nice. Especially since he actually listens instead of just nodding his head, you know? I’m worried though! What if he doesn’t want to go out with me tonight— Aah! Not ‘go out with me’ b-but like! You know!”

Kat looked around in amusement. The other students in the classroom mostly had headphones in now that’d they’d settled into their daily work and none of them seemed upset with Satori’s rambling, but none of them looked particularly happy about it either.

Satori quieted down a little bit, though he still gave Kat a running commentary on his artwork or the things he loved about Wakatoshi.

When the class finally released its students at 5:00, Satori practically raced out the room. Kat had forgotten about her earlier plans to attempt retrieving her bag from the room next door. Satori’s rambling about his best friend was giving her second-hand anxiety. Though as it happened, she really hadn’t needed worry.

Wakatoshi was waiting just outside the classroom door and Satori had locked onto his target immediately, sprinting over to him and pulling on his arm. “Wakatoshi! Thank you for coming to meet me! Thank you for agreeing to spend time with me tonight!”

Wakatoshi nodded. “Of course. I enjoy spending time with you.”

Satori blushed slightly. “Don’t say that!”

“It’s a true statement though.” Wakatoshi tilted his head. “You are an interesting person to talk to.”

Satori looked away quickly as they started walking, nervously fidgeting with the bracelets on his arms.

“Where would you like to go for dinner?” Wakatoshi asked.

“O-oh, we’re going right now? I thought you might want me to change into nicer clothes. I got some paint on me today.”

“You always have paint on you.”

“I’m trying to get better!” Satori protested. “It just... has a mind of its own!”

“The paint?”

“Yes,” Satori said stubbornly, crossing his arms. “It’s paint’s fault.”

Kat meowed to agree with that statement. It was always the paint’s fault.

Feeling a way to escape the slightly embarrassing train of conversation, Satori grabbed Kat out of her bag, holding her up in the air. “Hi, Katrina! Sorry that you had to stay in the bag all day! Art classrooms aren’t the most cat-friendly places!”

Kat mewed. It was understandable. Cats didn’t belong in art classrooms. That was true enough.

“She seems very mild-mannered,” Wakatoshi commented. “Was she well-behaved today?”

“Very very well behaved!” Satori looked down at Kat affectionately, cradling her close to his chest. “She just hung out and talked to me while I drew like a good kitty!”

“She talked to you?” Wakatoshi asked, looking a little perplexed.

Satori laughed. “Well, I feel like she would’ve if she could’ve. She feels like someone I can talk to about anything! She’ll keep my secrets if I tell them to her and she won’t judge me.”

“Well, I do not think she would be one to tell your secrets around...” Wakatoshi considered. “The Chick-fil-a is here, Satori. Would you like to go there for dinner?”

Satori skipped around Wakatoshi to look at the storefront. “Oh! Sure! Is that what you want?”

“I would be alright with many things.”

“Yeah, this is good then!” Satori bounded over to the decently long line. It was right around dinner time so the common areas of the school were full of people chatting with friends, studying at the small tables, and shoving food into their mouths before evening classes.

Satori hopped in place and rambled about the menu items while he and Wakatoshi stood together in the line. He clearly had a lot of thoughts about the food, but when they got to the front, he still had to screw his eyes shut and think hard for a few moments to figure out what he wanted to buy.

In the end, both ended up with a meal once Satori finally decided what to order and Wakatoshi loaned him a few dollars after Satori frowned into his near-empty wallet. They retreated with their food to a quieter corner of the common area with a table and two chairs across from each other.

“Is is alright with you if I study?” Wakatoshi asked.

“Of course, of course!” Satori waved his hand dismissively. “That’s what we came here for!”

Wakatoshi pulled a thick textbook out of his backpack. “Okay then. I can’t listen to you quite as well when I’m doing work of my own, but if you have anything you need to talk about, I will give you my full attention.”

Satori froze, blushing fiercely. “Wakatoshi! You can’t say things like that!”

“Why not?”

“You’re... You’re enabling me!” Satori pulled out a sketchbook from his own bag. “Tell me to sit down and shut up like everyone else!”

“I enjoy your stories though,” Wakatoshi stated, his neutral facial expression never shifting.

Satori hid his grin in his hand. “You’re funny, Wakatoshi. Real funny.”

“Um. Thank you then.”

From Satori’s lap, Kat watched the conversation turn peaceful again. Even their light bickering was sweet and she couldn’t imagine what they would be like if they dated as Satori so fervently spoke about.

Kat watched as Satori’s pencil glided absently over the paper of his sketchbook for a few minutes while he talked and kept his eyes on Wakatoshi. She could almost feel Satori wanting to draw a portrait of his friend, but he kept himself in check, instead drawing a few longer lines than Kat was expecting when he finally settled down to draw intently.

Drawing intently did not entail quieting down by any means. Satori still rambled onward and Wakatoshi would look up from his book every few minutes to watch Satori’s soft smile as he relayed the epic of his life, from little pranks he and Eita played on each other, to cool things he’d done in class recently.

Kat watched the two men and their strange interactions quietly. Wakatoshi never seemed to speak up through the intensity of Satori’s talking. Even when Satori asked questions, he usually kept talking too quickly and answered them himself before Wakatoshi could get a word in. And yet, Wakatoshi didn’t seem bothered by this at all. He sat still and took some brief notes, but mostly just listened to Satori. His expression still didn’t change and he still didn’t make any attempts to insert himself into the role of speaker, but he seemed content regardless.

Satori’s pencil slid against the paper with fine strokes, barely putting any graphite down. Kat watched with fascination as an eagle took shape on the white page. The shading was realistic enough that it could almost be real.

Almost four hours had passed and Wakatoshi had closed his book, the multi-tasking proving too much for him and turning to listening silently as Satori talked and drew.

“When I noticed that the class— Hey! Wakatoshi, you aren’t studying!”

Wakatoshi blinked. “I’m done with the work I needed to get done.”

“Why didn’t you tell me!” Satori attempted to stand up, but sat back down to allow Kat to keep sitting on his lap. “You don’t have time to waste, Wakatoshi! You can go back to your place!”

“I wasn’t wasting time,” Wakatoshi said simply. “And I said before, you are interesting to listen to.”

“It’s getting late though! You can head back to your dorm. I know you don’t like staying up too late.”

Wakatoshi nodded. “Thank you, Satori. I appreciate your consideration.”

“Can I walk you back to your room?”

“If you would like to.”

“Awesome! Oh, I almost forgot! I never show you what I draw when we hang out like this! Do you want to see?”

Wakatoshi nodded.

Satori tossed his sketchbook onto the table facing Wakatoshi. “I don’t know why I wanted to draw an eagle, but I just did. Do you like him?”

Wakatoshi studied the drawing for several seconds before he started talking, and didn’t put the sketchbook down even then. “It’s a very realistic rendition, Satori. It’s been a while since I’ve taken a look at your art. You’ve improved greatly.”

Satori beamed, taking the sketchbook back when Wakatoshi had finished memorizing every detail of the drawing. “Thank you! I’ve been drawing a lot and working really hard to be better!”

“It shows,” Wakatoshi affirmed, standing up next to Satori.

Satori let Kat hop to the floor by his feet. “Do you want to walk for a while, Katrina? It’s not too far to Wakatoshi’s dorm! And you can always tell me and I’ll pick you back up, okay?”

Kat was happy to stretch her legs and walk for a while beside the two men. They seemed very content as they circled the campus to the dorm buildings. Satori knew the way to Wakatoshi’s room by heart and stopped directly outside the door.

“Well, thank you for spending time with me!” Satori said, a little awkwardly. “I had a good time tonight!”

“I as well,” Wakatoshi agreed. “Will we be doing this again sometime?”

“Yeah!” Satori jumped in the air. “Only if you have time, of course, but I really want to!”

Wakatoshi nodded, pushing the door open. “I’ll see you later then, Satori. Have a good rest of your night.”

Satori waved and took a step away. “Bye, Wakatoshi! Have a good one!”

The door shut and Satori leaned down to scoop Kat back up, holding her gently in his arms and stroking her back as he walked. “Isn’t he something, Katrina?”


	6. Chapter 6

It was after 9:00 pm when Satori left the university, replacing Kat in the bag slung over his shoulder.

“Did you like the eagle I drew, Katrina?” Satori asked absently as he walked cheerfully toward his apartment. “I wanted to not draw a picture of Wakatoshi because I always end up drawing him when we’re together but then I can’t show him because he’ll be freaked out! There’s just something about his face and he just. Works. It’s just so easy to draw him. I told you this but I just can’t find the words to describe it. Maybe it’s because his expression is always the same and he sits so still... No, that’s not it. But he has just this... vibe. This vibe that’s just so easy to capture. He looks so regal even just when he’s sitting there listening to me or doing his schoolwork. I  _ have _ to show you some of the drawings! I’ve drawn Eita a few times too just because I live with him and he’s a nice still-life. Yep, just stick him in front of the TV on a Saturday night, hand him a bowl of Doritos and the only movement you’ll get out of him is blinking and raising his hand to his mouth and back into the bowl again. I still like him anyway, even if he’s lazy sometimes.”

Satori took the stairs up to his apartment two at a time and dug his keys out of his pocket, humming softly.

The door swung open to a still, quiet apartment.

Satori flung his keychain onto a table by the door and let Kat out of the bag.

“Eita, are you home?” Satori called, quickly jumping over to one of the doors off the main room.

Almost as soon as he threw open the door, Satori reeled backward.

“Get out, Satori!” came a scream from within.

Satori stuck his tongue out and stood in the doorway, hand on hip. “Here I was wondering if you’d ask me to join in, but I guess not—”

Hands were promptly placed over Satori’s shoulders and he was forcefully removed from the room.

The person shoving Satori back into the living room was tall and lanky with light auburn hair and a bored-looking expression. He was clothed only in dark boxers though he didn’t look particularly embarrassed. “Satori, just— Wait, when did you guys get a cat?”

Kat looked up —way up— at the stranger and mewed quietly. He probably wasn’t a dangerous person but the cold expression on his face made her nervous anyway.

Satori bounced over and picked Kat up excitedly, instantly forgetting the apparent argument. “Katrina, meet Taichi!”

The ginger held out his arms and Satori deposited Kat into a very gentle embrace.

“Katrina? Hi there.”

With an exaggerated sigh, Eita pulled himself out of the bedroom as well, tugging pants on and glaring daggers. “Thanks, Satori. Way to cockblock.”

“Sorry, Eita!” Satori smirked, not looking all that apologetic. “Your boyfriend likes my cat more than he likes you now!”

Eita punched Satori’s shoulder. “Oh, fuck off!”

“Don’t be such a sore loser, Eita. It’s just the way the cookie crumbles!”

Taichi almost dropped Kat as he suddenly sneezed. “I’m probably allergic to her, unfortunately.”

“Aw, Taichi! We need to find you some safe pets! ‘Cause you like her, right?”

Taichi continued to pet Kat even as his eyes watered. “I do like her. She’s a cute cat and she seems nice. I’m glad for you. I have a safe pet though. He’s standing behind me.”

Eita crossed his arms over his chest. “Very funny. It’d suck if you were allergic to your boyfriend.”

Satori smirked at Eita. “Taichi, I think  _ I’m _ allergic to your boyfriend. I’m gonna stop breathing!” Satori fell against Eita dramatically, pretending to faint.

“Oh, get off me!” Eita struggled to push Satori away and keep himself upright.

Satori grabbed onto Eita’s shoulders and finally succeeded in pulling them both to the ground where they immediately started rough-housing.

Taichi sighed and sniffed, still petting Kat. “They’re ridiculous...” He re-entered Eita’s bedroom and let Kat jump out of his arms onto the bed.

Kat looked around this new room. It was cleaner than Satori’s, but not by a whole lot. The walls were decorated with posters and the floor was piled with clothes, magazines, and a couple take-out boxes. At least unlike Satori’s room, there weren’t any papers or canvases on the bed and Taichi stretched himself out over the top sheet and Kat placed herself under his hand.

“Good kitty,” Taichi murmured, sniffling. “You’re very pretty, you know that? Eita told me that Satori’s using you as reasoning to get close to Wakatoshi again. I bet it’s working.”

“Taichi!!! Stop making me look like a bad person!” Satori shouted, now standing bent over in the doorway while Eita had him in a headlock.

“Stop talking!” Eita growled, digging his knuckles into the top of Satori’s head.

Satori laughed and wiggled out of Eita’s grip, running over to the bed and throwing himself next to Taichi. “I’m not using her for anything! She’s my cat because I found her and she loves me and I love her!”

“Okay, but you got Wakatoshi to come over and give her a bath and you were with him this morning and then again this evening and I’m pretty sure none of that would’ve happened without Katrina,” Eita pointed out, pushing Satori so he could sit on the bed and lean against Taichi’s chest.

“That doesn’t mean I’m  _ using _ her!” Satori defended, pulling Kat into his lap and playing with her paws. “All the best romantics have a wingman. I’ve just got a... wingcat.”

“Is she going to keep going on dates with you guys?” Taichi asked, still grinning, despite his sniffling.

“Tonight wasn’t a date!” Satori blushed slightly. “We were just doing homework!”

“Study date, then.” Eita shrugged.

“H-he wasn’t doing work? He was just kinda sitting there listening to me talk and watching me draw...?”

Eita blinked silently before bursting out laughing. “Come  _ on _ , Satori! Just admit it!”

“It wasn’t formally a date! That’s not what I’m trying for anymore! I just want to be friends with him because he’s still amazing!”

“Satori’s in loooove!” Eita teased.

“I’m not in love with him!”

“You’re in love with someone, Satori,” Taichi mused, smiling slightly. “I can see it in your eyes. And the only person it can be is him.”

“Maybe I’m in love with Katrina!” Satori gently threw Kat at Eita and bolted from the room.

Kat panicked at the sudden movement and jumped away from Eita. She wanted to apologize, but she could only meow at him loudly and technically, it wasn’t her fault that Satori had  _ thrown  _ her.

Taichi was laughing as Satori poked his head back into the room.

“C’mere, Katrina! Let the two lovers get back to whatever they were doing in here before! I’m sure it was totally PG-rated, but we should give them some privacy anyway.”

Kat was content to mew a quick goodbye to Taichi and Eita before scampering out the room after Satori.

Still chuckling softly, Satori shoved his own bedroom door open as far as it would go and slipped inside after Kat.

Satori shoved some pictures out of the way of his dresser and changed into pajamas before flopping onto his own bed. “C’mere!”

Kat happily jumped onto the bed and nuzzled her face against Satori’s.

“Hey, cutie!” Satori scratched Kat behind the ears affectionately. “Thanks for standing up for me and for being my new weapon of choice! Though if I throw you at Eita again, feel free to scratch him.”

Kat meowed skeptically.

Satori relaxed into his pillow with a sigh. “Yeah, I know. Don’t actually scratch him. He’s a good friend even if he’s kind of a butt sometimes. Sorry if Taichi was rude. He’d be a little nicer if he wasn’t allergic to you, I think. He’s a good guy too. I’ve known him a while. Longer than Eita has, actually. They’re good together though. They’re happy, I think, and that’s what’s important. I love them a lot even if they like to tease me. You ever have friends like that, Katrina? Where you love them but they also kinda suck and you’re like ‘why do I even like you?’ Do you have little cat friends?”

Kat mewed and hoped it sounded sarcastic. As far as snooty cat friends went, Olive immediately came to mind. Satori’s relationship with Eita was certainly interesting though. She hoped Satori would talk more about how he became acquainted with all of these people he knew. They all seemed a little peculiar, in her opinion. She went to this school as well, but everyone around her had always seemed so mundane and dull. Until now.

Maybe by traveling with Satori, she was seeing the world as he did, always an adventure. No one was an average personality when you saw them through Satori’s rose-tinted glasses. He put everyone in a better light.

When Kat looked back up at Satori, he looked a touch sadder than he had. She tapped his leg with her paw.

Satori smiled down at her. “Do you have little cat friends who kinda suck, but they’ve also been there for you during the worst times and refused to give up you? Don’t leave those friends.”

Kat wondered what had brought on this change of atmosphere. She rubbed her head against Satori’s knee, prompting him to keep talking.

Satori sighed and tossed a few papers onto the bedside table, laying down against his pillow and pulling Kat to sit on his chest. She batted again at the bracelets on both his wrists. There were many of them on each of his wrists and all made of different colors and materials. Kat wanted to take a closer look at the combinations of string, metal, leather, and cloth that circled his arms, but he never stopped moving for long enough anyway. Just from the random jewelry, Kat could taste the artist vibes he was emitting.

“Wakatoshi, Eita, and I all went to the same high school our first year. They were really my only friends, and at that point, I think only Wakatoshi was really my friend, but Eita was there most of the time too. We were all in the volleyball club, like I said. It was... It was probably the greatest thing I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve played volleyball for a long time but I didn’t ever feel like I was part of a team until I went to that school. I didn’t really play conventionally, but they didn’t really care because I could score a lot of points! Wakatoshi and Eita were also really good players and I wanted to keep playing with them forever! Then I had to move schools after my first year. Actually, we moved about two months before the end of the school year so technically I never finished my first year of high school and my transcript is all messed up, but that’s okay I guess... It was my dad’s work that made us have to move. I wanted to tell him to let me stay, but he said we needed to go. I didn’t really have any authority because, I mean, he’s my dad. So we moved and I went to a different school for the other two years of high school and it was never as good there, but it’s okay. Eita had a cell phone and gave me his number and I called him and he let me talk to Wakatoshi. Wakatoshi got a cell phone of his own too and then I could call him directly! I finally got my dad to get me a phone my third year and he did and then I texted Wakatoshi all the time! He said that he and Eita were going to this college so I came here too! Things were kinda weird last year, but now it’s more okay and Wakatoshi and Eita have been there for me through all of it! I probably would’ve left me. But they didn’t. Even Wakatoshi. I thought he would leave. After what I did... but it doesn’t matter anymore because everything is fine now! Maybe I’ll tell you about that another time, Katrina. I’m really tired now. We got up really early today! I’m going to sketch a little more if you want to sleep. Thank you for listening to me! You’re a very good friend too, even if you’re not human.”

Kat hopped off Satori’s chest so he could grab his sketchbook.

It had been an early morning and Kat was finding it easier to slip into sleep as a cat. She put her head down on the bed and blinked sleepily.

“What should I draw?” Satori mumbled quietly to himself. “I’m going to draw you again, Katrina. Is that okay? Maybe I’ll use charcoal today for something different! No, wait, that’s messy. Hmm, I guess I’ll just use pencil. I can do the same thing tonight. It’s okay.”

Kat drifted into sleep, still pondering Satori’s past and these friendships that meant so much to him.


	7. Chapter 7

Kat awoke suddenly when Satori flung himself out of bed, muttering under his breath and immediately falling to his knees on the floor and rifling through the pile of art projects scattered across the carpet.

Kat jumped to the floor with Satori and wiggled herself underneath his hand.

“Hi, Katrina,” Satori whispered, scratching her gently before plunging back into the pile. He came up with a canvas that was half painted black, the line connecting two of the corners diagonally. The bottom right half of the sheet was a light baby blue.

“I get it now!” Satori said, grinning. “I was holding it with the blue on top, but it becomes totally different when you put the black half on the top! I know what to do with this now!”

Kat was confused and a little bit worried. She and Satori had gone to bed around 11 and it was now just after 3 am. What had woken him up so suddenly was beyond her. What he was rambling about in relation to that painting was also a mystery. She understood the artist affinity for a little bit of madness and strokes of inspiration that appeared at inconvenient times, but this was making her curious. What was Satori going to do with this piece?

Satori left the room and Kat dashed after him, following him into the kitchen where he grabbed a cup and filled it with tap water. He snatched a few paper towels off a roll as well and rushed back to his room.

In his haste, a bit of water slopped out of the cup and dotted the laminate floor.

Kat meowed urgently.

Satori hadn’t seemed to hear her and just zipped back into his room, shutting the door behind him.

Kat dashed forward and batted at the door. She wanted to be let back in. She wanted to make sure Satori was okay and she wanted to see what he was going to paint. She meowed louder and kicked at the door as hard as she could manage.

There was no answer. She wasn’t going to scratch at the door, so she figured, she’d just wait until time drew Satori back out of his room. She laid down outside the door and pondered life, feeling tired again now that the excitement was apparently over.

 

Some time later, Kat awoke again to a door clicking open. She looked up at Satori’s door hopefully, but it hadn’t budged.

Eita and Taichi were making their way into the main living room, talking quietly. Both were fully clothed now and seemed pretty put together.

“Have fun in class,” Eita said softly. “I’ll see you later tonight.”

“Yep. See you. Are you going back to bed now?”

“Nah, It’s close to 10 so I need to be awake for class. Are  _ you  _ going back to bed now?”

Taichi smirked. “Yep. This is the best class for sleeping. See you later, Eita.”

“Later, babe.”

They kissed and Taichi left through the front door.

Kat watched Eita come back toward the bedrooms and she meowed.

Eita paused and frowned. “Katrina? What are you doing out here... oh.” Eita stepped forward and knocked on Satori’s door.

“Yeah?” came the loud call from within.

“Satori, can I come in?”

“Sure,” Satori said absently.

Eita shoved the door open. Another pile of books and paintings had toppled over and made it even harder to open the door.

“Are you painting?” Eita asked.

Satori stepped away from the canvas and looked at his friend. “Yeah? It’s what I do. I’m a paintist.”

Eita raised an eyebrow. “It’s painter. Or artist. Paintist isn’t a word.”

Satori flashed a lopsided grin. “Technically, it’s not wrong though.”

“Okay, whatever. The point is, what are you up to and why did you leave Katrina outside?”

Kat had jumped back onto Satori’s bed and nestled herself in a blanket to watch.

Satori looked over at her. “I closed the door on you? Katrina, I’m sorry!

“And there’s water on the floor,” Eita pointed out.

“I-I’ll clean it up in a few minutes!” Satori stammered, fiddling with the brush in his hand.

Eita looked harder at the painting Satori was standing in front of. “Satori, how long have you been awake working on that?”

“Uh, I don’t know. I woke up and I knew what I had to do with this WIP!”

Eita glanced at the painting, leaning against the window for some reason. “Why are you painting against the window? If you get paint on the glass you have to clean it off.”

“I know! I’m being careful! What time is it?”

“Almost 10. Don’t you have class at 11?”

Satori looked at his wrist. There wasn’t a watch there. “I have to finish this. It won’t take long.”

Eita rolled his eyes. “Okay. Don’t be late. I don’t want to have to be your mom.”

“I got it. Just let me finish.”

“Okay. I’m leaving soon too and I’m probably going to Taichi’s tonight. Have a good one.”

“Bye. Have fun. Use protection,” Satori said absently, turning back to his work.

Eita scoffed, glanced quickly at Kat, then left the room again.

Kat looked back at Satori’s current painting. The canvas was rectangular though he held it against the window at an angle so that the line connecting the opposite corners was horizontal. He’d painted figures in neat, regimented lines fading into the background, light blue on the black surface and an exact mirror image of black figures in the blue region.

“I’m not sure what this means yet,” Satori mumbled. “I just saw it finished and I had to do it. What do you think it means, Katrina? Maybe it just means that I’m going insane.”

Kat wasn’t sure what it meant either, but it certainly looked cool. What she did know was that Satori had been working on this alone for almost six hours and the dark shadows under his eyes were suspiciously prominent.

Satori was standing in front of the window, holding the picture against the glass with his left hand. How he hadn’t noticed the 3 am darkness fade into dawn and then to the bright morning daylight that was currently shining in his face, Kat wasn’t sure.

Satori looked at the painting silently. “It’s gone. My focus got broken and I can’t work on this anymore.”

He moved his shaking hand away from holding up the picture and tossed it on the desk.

Kat flinched. It looked nearly done to her and she couldn’t think that Satori would just discard it when his focus got interrupted briefly. Was that the fate of all these projects, stacked and folded and strewn across the room? Kat understood how artists got into moods that influenced their work, but there were so many pieces on the floor in this room, pieces that she would certainly say were beautiful if she could see any of them.

“I’m just going to shower and get ready for class,” Satori said. “Sorry for shutting you out in the hall, Katrina.”

Kat watched him exit the room dejectedly. She understood his problem, but she just didn’t know how to help him with any of it. She’d felt this way often herself where she had so much inspiration for a piece but something got in the way of its completion. That could be the hardest thing to cope with. As an artist, she put every emotion she had into her work, but that could also lead to some real heartbreak when things didn’t work out quite the way she’d been planning. Focus was always a problem too and she would often times refuse to get a drink or use the bathroom when she was in the middle of something for fear that she wouldn’t be able to get back into the groove afterward.

Kat stayed resting on the bed while Satori showered. Even though she knew the struggles he was having with his painting today, she had no idea what she could do to help him. When she was having trouble with art, what did she want? Validation that she was still doing alright? Confirmation that one bad day or one bad picture wasn’t the end of the world?

Satori’s phone sitting on the bedside table buzzed to life and Kat was startled out of her thoughts slightly. She hopped over to look at the screen, immediately realizing that it was a call from Wakatoshi coming in.

The shower was still running. Kat didn’t want to let the phone go unanswered though. She batted at the screen accepting the call.

“Hello? Satori?” came Wakatoshi’s quiet, tinny voice through the speaker. “Satori?”

Kat gently pried at the charging cord with her mouth, cursing her lack of opposable thumbs. She just needed to bring the phone to Satori and then he’d be able to talk to his best friend and that would almost surely cheer him up from the disappointing end of his night.

She was a little surprised that the line stayed open even as there was no response from Satori. Kat finally pulled the phone off of the cord and picked it up in her mouth.

Almost immediately, there was a loud knocking at the door.

The shower shut off and Satori dashed out of the bathroom, bright purple jeans on and towel draped over his head.

“Wakatoshi? What are you doing here?”

Kat was finding it a little more difficult than she thought to jump off the bed with the awkwardly large phone in her mouth, but she didn’t want to drop it onto the floor.

“I called you and you answered but didn’t say anything and I wasn’t sure what that meant so I came over.”

“I just stepped out of the shower. I didn’t answer my phone at all.”

The voices got closer so Kat just stood in the middle of the bed with the phone in her mouth. Hopefully, Satori would understand that she had been trying to bring the phone to him and she wasn’t just causing a ruckus.

Satori shoved the bedroom door open and immediately broke into a huge grin. “Katrina answered the phone for me!”

The redhead rushed forward and scooped Kat up, kissing the top of her head. “You’re such a good girl!”

Wakatoshi had paused in the doorway of the bedroom. “Satori, how long has your room been this messy?”

Satori whirled back around, his expression souring. “Uh, not too long. It’s just gotten a little out of hand lately. I’m going to clean up this weekend. It’s Friday, right? Yay!”

Wakatoshi didn’t seem to be buying Satori’s blithe enthusiasm. He stepped further inside carefully and picked a creased and wrinkled ink drawing off the floor. “I thought you had a place for all your artwork so it wouldn’t get ruined like this.”

Satori shrugged and absently played with a blue beaded bracelet around his wrist, though Kat could sense how nervous he was getting. “I do. It’s just gotten a little out of control. I promise I’m going to get everything fixed up and I’ll put all of this away!”

Wakatoshi picked up another sheet of paper. It had been sitting behind the door all the times Satori and others had had to force their way into the room past all the junk blocking the doors full rotation and it was torn almost straight through.

Satori looked a little meek.

“Didn’t you like this piece?” Wakatoshi asked.

“Wakatoshi... I did. I do. I don’t know what you’re saying!”

“I thought you cared more than this about your possessions, about your art career. I thought you were going to try to sell some of your pieces for some extra money so you could go further. You can’t sell a ripped sketch.”

Satori was very still and very quiet.

“Do you still care about this?” Wakatoshi asked, his neutral expression shifting ever so slightly.

“I do!” Tears welled up in Satori’s eyes but didn’t spill over. “I promise I do! I’m sorry for letting my room get out of hand!”

Wakatoshi looked more stern than usual. “Eita called me.”

“What?”

“He called me and said that you had been painting and he didn’t know for how long and he didn’t know if you were going to manage to drag yourself to class in an hour. That’s why I called you.”

“That’s really kind of you. Both of you.”

“Satori, how long have you been working this morning?”

“Um... I’m not exactly sure. I woke up and I wanted to finish something I’d started before. It was still dark though when I woke up... So I’ve been up for a while.”

“You didn’t get 8 hours of sleep.”

Satori just shook his head.

“You won’t be at the top of your game in class today.” The disapproval was clearly audible in Wakatoshi’s voice.

Kat could practically hear Satori’s heart shattering. She was surprised that he didn’t start crying.

“I’m doing the best I can, Wakatoshi! I promise! I’m going to class! I was awake and I was done painting and I was taking a shower and I was all ready to go! Even without you being here! I know how to take care of myself!”

“Did you finish the painting?”

Satori hesitated.

“Did you discard it on a pile somewhere?”

Satori slowly picked up his early morning project, cringing as he saw that some paint had gotten smeared and some had smudged onto other works laying on the floor. “This is it.”

“May I see it?”

“Careful. The paint is still just a little bit wet.”

Wakatoshi gently took hold of the canvas’ wood frame, looking at the picture. “It’s people. Blue and black people?”

Satori nodded. “I think it means something, though I’m not sure yet. I woke up at night and I knew what I had to paint so it must mean something, I figure.”

“I don’t know what it means, but it looks interesting. You’re an excellent artist, Satori.”

Satori blushed. “Thanks. Uh, you’re looking at it upside down though. And tilted.”

Wakatoshi raised an eyebrow and Satori reached out to help. He rotated the picture so the separation between the black and blue background was horizontal to Wakatoshi’s vision and the black was on the top instead of the blue.

Wakatoshi blinked. “Satori, it’s a mirror image. Why does it matter which way is up?”

Kat could almost see Satori’s mood dropping through the floor. “It has to be! You don’t get it!” He turned away from Wakatoshi, looking down at his hands and peeling some dried paint from his palm that his shower hadn’t washed away.

“You’re right,” Wakatoshi said. “I don’t get it. I don’t understand art like you. If you would like to explain your reasoning for putting the black on top, I will listen, though I can’t guarantee that I’ll understand still.”

Satori still looked upset. “I can’t explain. I’m not even sure myself. I don’t really like it anymore though, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You’re not going to finish it?”

“Nah.”

“You’re going to trash it?”

“I’ll probably paint over it. I don’t have money for new canvases.”

“Even after you spent so much time on it?”

“Wakatoshi, I  _ promise _ I’m taking things seriously. I’m just... I’m just having a hard time today. Sorry for hating it or for not getting enough sleep or whatever you’re mad about. You don’t have to look out for me though. I’m not totally helpless.”

Wakatoshi watched Satori without blinking. “It’s quarter to. Put a shirt on. You’re going to be late to class. So am I. I’ll see you later, Satori.”

Satori’s eyes widened. “Don’t leave me, Wakatoshi! Please don’t be mad at me; I’m sorry!”

Wakatoshi looked over his shoulder. “I’m not angry at you, Satori. If I raised my voice, I apologize. I want you to know that I’m serious that I want you to do your best.”

Satori froze for a solid minute before breaking into a grin. “Wakatoshi, wait! I’ll walk to class with you! We won’t be late, I promise! Let me find a shirt!”

Satori grabbed the first shirt his hands touched on the ground.

Kat picked Satori’s phone up again and dropped it into her bag, climbing in as well and meowing quietly to remind Satori to grab her and all of his supplies for class that he’d already packed into the bag.

Satori snatched the bag, rubbing Kat’s head again fondly. “Thanks for answering the phone, Katrina. I owe you one.”

The apartment’s front door open and shut and Satori bounded out of his room to follow. “Wakatoshiii!! Wait up! I’m coming!”


	8. Chapter 8

Three hours later, the class had finished and Satori dragged himself out the room, yawning.

“Don’t tell me,” he muttered to Kat. “I know I should’ve gotten more sleep last night. I’ll go to bed early tonight. Or I’ll just sleep all day tomorrow since it’s Saturday. I’m done with classes for the week, isn’t that great!? I think I’m going to try and clean up my room a little bit. It’s been a long time since Wakatoshi has seen my bedroom and I know it made him unhappy that all my stuff wasn’t tidy. I want him to come over again so I have to at least organize everything a little bit!”

Kat meowed in agreement. She herself lived in a fairly constant mess, as she supposed many artists did, home strewn with brushes and paints and markers and pencils. But Satori’s bedroom was especially messy and she was on the same side as Wakatoshi that Satori’s artwork was magnificent and deserved a better home than crumpled on the floor.

Suddenly, Satori’s phone buzzed from a pocket in Kat’s bag and Kat jumped away from the vibration.

“Ah, sorry!” Satori snickered and pulled his phone out, answering it quickly. “Tsutomu!”

Kat looked up. What was the younger student calling Satori about?

“No, I actually just got out of class for the week. What’s up? ... Oh, sure! Yeah, I’d love to! ... What? Woah! Yeah! Absolutely! Thanks, Tsutomu! I’ll be right there!”

Satori hung up the phone and Kat looked up at him curiously.

The redhead’s eyes glinted in the sunshine. “Katrina, this is great! Tsutomu works part time outside of class at a pet store and he said that they had some supplies that I could get for free. Stuff for you! It’s also closer to home than Wal-Mart so we can get you cat food from there from now on! I didn’t even know this place existed! Apparently, Tsutomu has been working there all semester along with someone else I knew from high school!”

Kat started feeling excited too. She’d known about the little pet shop since it was about halfway between the school and her sister’s house, but it didn’t surprise her that Satori hadn’t known about it since he had never had a real reason to frequent a pet shop. Kat had never been into the store, but she knew it existed at least.

Satori giggled as he came to the street Tsutomu had directed him to over the phone. “Hah. This street is called Gay Street. Gay Street pet shop.”

Kat would’ve rolled her eyes and snickered. She’d laughed about the name of the street for a long while after moving into this town.

The pet store was a small, white building with very few parking spaces. Clearly, they didn’t have many visitors. It was a small town though, so it was understandable. They probably only got regulars here who came in quite frequently to care for their pets.

“Satori!” came a cry from across the store.

Tsutomu bounded across the floor and stooped down in front of Satori to scratch Kat’s head. “And hello to you too, Katrina!”

“Hey, Tsutomu!” Satori grinned and stole a high five from the younger student. “How’s it going?”

“Awesome! I’m glad you came! This is where I work!” Tsutomu showed off his shirt and apron with the company’s logo across the front.”

“I see that,” Satori said, somewhat amused. “Good job finding work doing something you love! It’s probably lots of fun to get to work with the animals!”

“It is! We were cleaning out some stuff in the back and I thought you might be interested in some of it?”

“Yeah, probably! I really needed to go out this weekend and anyway to get some stuff for Katrina. I really don’t own all that much cat stuff, so we’ve been improvising for the most part lately.”

“Well, you weren’t exactly planning on getting a cat, were you,” Tsutomu chuckled. “You can take her out of the bag, by the way. This is a very cat-friendly place and if she wants to get down and walk around, that’s totally fine!”

“Thanks, Tsutomu!” Satori said, setting his bag down on the floor and unzipping the top for Kat to hope out onto the floor.

Kat mewed and jumped up onto the front counter, pushing a stray toy mouse onto the floor.

Tsutomu grinned. “She looks healthy and happy as ever, Satori! By the way, I like your shirt!”

Satori glanced down. In his rush to get ready that morning, he’d pulled on the first shirt he could reach on the floor and it happened to be the white t-shirt he’d been wearing on Tuesday when he’d found Kat the first time and it was covered with red paint smears and small paw prints from Kat’s struggling. Kat had tried to alert Satori to his accidental poor fashion choice but he had only absently meowed back at her. Kat figured he probably wouldn’t care either way that he looked like a piece of abstract artwork.

“Oh!” Satori said in surprise. “I hadn’t realized! This is the shirt Katrina got paint all over! It does look kinda cool actually, doesn’t it!”

Tsutomu nodded. “It does! Her paw prints are so cute! I’d wear a shirt like that! I want our shirts here to look like that instead of just our logo.” Tsutomu examined his own, rather plain shirt with mild disappointment.

Satori laughed. “I can make you a shirt like this if you want! I mean, I’ve got the artist right here with me!” He scooped Kat off the counter and cuddled her against his chest.

Kat patted one of the crimson paw prints on his shirt to show her approval.

“If I made you one, what color would you want it to be?” Satori asked, already formulating a plan to say thank you to the younger student who had given his time and effort to help Satori out with this latest endeavor.

“Blue! No, purple. Green? No, blue definitely. Wait, but your red one looks really cool! Um... Blue... I think blue.”

Satori laughed. “I’ll figure something out for you, Tsutomu; don’t worry.”

Tsutomu bounced. “Thank you!! I mean, you don’t have to or anything!”

“Anything for you, Tsutomu! You’ve been really helpful to me lately and I owe you! And you’re my friend! A great friend!”

Tsutomu blushed and smiled wide. “Come on, I have to show you the stuff!”

Satori skipped along behind Tsutomu to the back room, singing to Kat as she followed obediently behind the two.

Tsutomu rifled through some cardboard boxes before setting one down in front of Satori and kneeling next to it. “So, I guess none of this is the highest quality and we have better stuff up front and I could get you a discount, but this might interest you anyway.”

“No, this is fine!” Satori assured. “You know me, broke college kid in need of cat supplies. Honestly, I’ll take whatever you got because I want Katrina to be happy but I’m pretty low on funds. I owe Eita more than I’m probably worth at this point and several other people have loaned me cash that I need to pay back as well.”

Tsutomu still looked a little guilty. “Alright, well I don’t want it to seem like I’m just giving you trash. There are some toys in here in mostly decent condition and a couple beds that never sold.

“It’s fine, Tsutomu!” Satori smiled, opening the box. “I really appreciate this. Honest.”

Kat hopped into Satori’s lap and Satori laughed and pulled a felt mouse from the box, dropping it in front of Kat.

Kat felt vaguely offended by the toys, though it just reminded her that she needed to focus on turning herself back into a human. She wasn’t going to spend her days playing with mice and eating bland cat food and being mostly unable to help Satori when he got himself into more trouble on a daily basis.

Satori placed a small cat bed on the floor and Kat rolled around in it. Satori could take this if he wanted, but Kat would still prefer to sleep on the bed, next to Satori as he sketched and babbled long into the night.

“Tsutomu, are you— Satori!?”

Satori looked up from Kat and his entire expression lit up.

Kat jumped out of Satori’s way as he stood up quickly, accidentally kicking the cat bed in his rush.

Satori immediately embraced the new man in the back room though he was significantly shorter than Satori and the position was slightly awkward.

“Hayato, it’s good to see you again!” Satori exclaimed. “Sorry I haven’t been in touch! How’s life treating you?”

Hayato pushed a hand through his spiky, brown hair. “It’s going well! Nice to see you again too. Who’s this with you?”

Satori grinned and scooped Kat off the floor, dropping her into Hayato’s outstretched arms. “This is Katrina! She’s my kitten until I find her real owner.”

“You found her?” Hayato asked.

“Mhm! Running around the art building, covered in paint. Wakatoshi and I helped her out!”

Hayato grinned. “You and Wakatoshi working together again? Good to hear that too.”

“Yeah, it is good. How long have you been working here, Hayato? I didn’t even know this place existed.

“Well, I started two summers ago and I’ve been a manager here for about a year now. I love getting to spend all day every day here.

“That’s awesome!” Satori fawned. “It’s a cute place here! Are you going to run it someday?”

“I hope I get that opportunity! I love the small town feel and I love knowing everyone who comes in here.”

Satori nodded and pulled a rubber ball out of the box, bouncing it absently. “It seems like it’d be a fulfilling job. I’m definitely going to be coming back here more often for cat food and stuff since this is so much closer to home than Wal-Mart.”

The ball rolled away from Satori though he didn’t seem to notice, ignoring it to talk to Hayato more.

Kat watched the ball slip out of the back warehouse and into the main store. She looked at Satori. She loved him but  _ gosh _ he was easily distracted. Given a new friend to talk to, he was a goner.

Kat went after the ball herself so it wouldn’t get too lost. It had rolled peacefully to a stop in the middle of an aisle of dog food and Kat pushed it with her paw back toward the door.

“Hey! Cat!”

Kat whirled around.

“Get off the floor; come where I can see you.”

Kat took a step toward the counter next to the cash register. The voice had been coming from up there somewhere. She hopped up onto the counter and found herself face to face with a leopard gecko in a tank.

The wide eyes blinked and the mouth opened in a strange, lizardly grin. “I thought I smelled cat. Be a darling and help me out of this cage, yeah?”

Kat almost laughed. “Oh, you’re such a cute little lizard!! I’ve always wanted to get a lizard of my own someday!”

“Hey! C’mon lend me a hand! Us pets gotta stick together!”

A soft hiss came from the tank next to the gecko’s and Kat saw a small, thin snake moving to get a better look at her. “The kitty talks like a human?”

Kat heaved a sigh. “Look, I’m tired of trying to explain this, but I am a human. I got turned into a cat and I don’t know how to change myself back!”

The gecko and the snake looked at each other and laughed.

“She’s actually delusional!” The gecko cackled.

“I’m serious! I’m a college student and I got turned into a cat a couple days ago!”

“Hey! Who are you two menacing up there!?”

Kat scampered across the counter to look down at the source of a new voice coming from a cage near the front window.

“A kitty cat? Oh man, a good looking one too. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Kat wrinkled her nose down at the furry gray creature. “What  _ are _ you?”

“I am a chinchilla! I enjoy long walks on the beach, pretty girls, and rolling around in bowls of dust. Come down here so I can see the sunlight glimmer on your fur, beautiful.”

Kat turned her back on the chinchilla. “I don’t think so, buddy. Even if I were actually a cat, which I’m  _ not _ , we’re not even the same species.”

“Okay, listen. Do you know how many pretty cats we get in here? Ballpark estimate, a lot. You want to know how many chinchillas have stepped through that door? One. And that was me. Can you blame a guy?”

Kat scoffed. “Alright, whatever. You can feel however you want to feel. I’m not a cat though.”

“H-how’d you end up here then?” a black and white rabbit in another enclosure had hopped over to see what all the fuss was about.

Kat looked over at the rabbit. She looked more nervous than the rest of the animals in the shop and Kat wondered if she was new or had been through rough times. “Well, I was in class then I dropped a bunch of paint and then I was a cat so I ran out of the classroom and long story short, this other guy picked me up and helped me out since my sister’s cats are jerks and now I live with him and he’s friends with someone who works here and they’re both in the back right now.”

“That sounds really scary!” The rabbit voiced her sympathy.

“You know, I don’t really get you,” the gecko chimed back in. “We had a dog visit in here once who was convinced he was human too but you don’t act like him.”

Kat glared. “Well, that’s because the dog was insane and I’m actually a human. So.”

“The dog just kept insisting that his person let him sit in the front seat of her pickup truck and they sang to the radio together. That was it. That was the only evidence he had.”

The snake and the chinchilla laughed at the recollection.

“Oh man, that was one dumb dog,” the chinchilla wheezed.

“Alright, kitty, so if you’re really a human, why aren’t you trying to turn yourself back?”

“I am! I’m just a little distracted sometimes! I gotta make sure Satori makes it to class and doesn’t stay up too late drawing and... I’m not very good at taking care of him right now, but I’m working on it...”

“Instead of focusing on getting back your human form?” the chinchilla asked skeptically.

Kat looked away. “Satori’s a little high maintenance... I want him to be happy too.”

“Wait, you’re trying to put his needs before your own?” the snake hissed.

“Well, I owe him. That’s all.”

“Are you in love?” the rabbit asked, eyes wide.”

“He’s nice and good-looking, okay?! There! I said it!”

“The cat’s in love with her person!” the gecko laughed.

“So what? So maybe being a cat isn’t quite as horrible as I would’ve expected because I get to be with him and cuddle and he baby-talks me...”

“You know, if you’re trying to help him, you might be able to do that better as a human,” the gecko pointed out.

Kat turned her attention back to the open doorway to the back room. “Are you sure? It’s so easy to comfort him as a cat. I just walk up to him and purr and he pets me and he smiles. I’m no good at comforting people as a human. I’m not that great with words and I don’t have solutions for all his problems...”

“You don’t have solutions to his problems right now either,” the rabbit said. 

The gecko put one foot up on the glass of his tank. “Exactly. You’re just there for him when he needs it. That’s why people like pets. Other people try too hard to solve the problem. Animals are just there for comfort. I think he’d like you just as much as a friend or as a girlfriend even if you can’t always solve his problems.”

Kat couldn’t look away from the open doorway. She didn’t need to be soft and furry to help Satori. She needed to turn herself back human so she could properly help Satori.

“Look at me,” the gecko beckoned again.

Kat turned.

“That kid Tsutomu watches enough romantic dramas on his breaks and when the store is slow and the one thing I can tell you is that the sooner you express your feelings, the better. If the people in those stupid shows would just be straight with each other right off the bat, it’d save like seven episodes of bickering and feeling sorry for themselves.”

“You’re right...” Kat hopped off the counter and headed for the back room. “I’m going to focus on getting back to being a human so I can help him!”

“Attagirl!” the gecko called after Kat.

Satori met Kat in the doorway, kneeling down to pick her up. “Katrina! Hayato showed me the cameras in the store! They were super cool! Were you talking to the other animals up there? We were watching you and it was pretty cute!”

Katrina sighed happily and snuggled into his arms.

As Satori headed for the store’s front door, Kat’s new friends shouted encouragements at her and she called her thanks to them.


	9. Chapter 9

“Katrina, this is amaaazing! I have so much I need to do this weekend and I’m super pumped up! You weren’t there when I was talking to Hayato in the back, but Tsutomu was talking about my shirt and he asked Hayato if he could wear something like that instead of the normal uniform and Hayato said that he wasn’t a fan of how boring their uniforms were too and that he’d pay me to make shirts for all of them as the new uniform. Tsutomu was really excited and Hayato looked happy too. So we have to do that ASAP!! I also need to clean up my room and I think I’ll ask Wakatoshi to come over again so he can see how clean it is and that I really do care about my artwork. It’s irresponsible of me to let it get trashed on the floor!”

“You also need to get some sleep,” Kat tried to say. It just came out as a slightly subdued mew.

“I don’t know what to do first!” Satori paused for a moment to think. “I’m really stoked to work on the shirts and once I get the money from those, I’ll be able to start paying Eita back for a lot of things I owe him for. But I really want to show Wakatoshi that I care about my artwork. I... I sorta lied to him when I said my room had only been this messy for a few days. It’s been like that for a while. Eita doesn’t pester me about it and I can’t find the motivation to clean on my own so it’s really just gotten worse and worse. I need to make this up to him or he’s going to still be upset with me!”

Kat waited patiently in silence for Satori to decide. They were still stopped at a corner while Satori bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, deciding what to do first.

“Katrina! You need to help me decide! Am I going home right now or am I going to Wal-Mart for blank shirts and paint? You need to decide for me!”

Kat sighed. There was no way for her to communicate with Satori like that.

Satori set Kat’s duffel bag down on the ground and plucked her out of it, letting her stand on the sidewalk on her own. “You decide, Katrina! Home or Wal-Mart first!”

Kat was immediately alarmed by the hot sidewalk beneath her feet and she hoped into the nearest grass and sat down. This wasn’t her battle to fight and Satori was being unreasonable.

Satori just smirked, his apparent stress at the decision dissolving. “Is the ground hot? Sorry, Katrina. That was rude of me.”

Kat mewed and took a few steps further into the grass.

Satori stepped off the sidewalk as well and got on his hands and knees in the green groundcover. “Good idea, Katrina. I need to cool off as well.” Satori flopped on his back and smiled at the sky. “I didn’t really ask your permission, but I don’t know how I really would. Are you okay with helping me make these shirts? You’re gonna have to get all messy again, though obviously, I’ll wash it off of you right away unlike last time! I was thinking for these shirts it would be cool to have blank white shirts and then pick a color or two for paint and we’ll put it on your paws and maybe on the rest of you and you can walk on the shirts or roll around on them and it’ll look really random which will be pretty cool. Basically, they’ll look like mine! Only better! Because it’ll be intentional and there will be other cool colors! Does that sound like a good idea Katrina? Are you okay with helping me with this? Unfortunately, we’re going to have to make a lot of them because the pet store people are just going to make this their new uniform! Hayato said that they’d pay me $15 per shirt, but they were going to need about 24 shirts so all of the workers can have a couple. But that’s a lot of money so I promise that I’ll make it worth any discomfort you go through with the paint. I’m gonna spoil you rotten once I get money!”

If Kat could’ve rolled her eyes, she would have. She didn’t need reimbursement from Satori. It wasn’t a bother to her that she would have to help with the painting process. Sure, being coated with paint wasn’t an experience she was keen on trying again, but she wanted to help Satori and seeing him so excited about this project brought her comfort.

Satori ran his hands through the soft grass. “The first person I pay back with the money I get is Wakatoshi. I don’t owe him quite as much as I owe Eita, but I want to show him that I’m actually getting stuff done. After this morning, I’m not sure he trusts me anymore...”

Though the day was hot, Kat wanted to comfort Satori so she laid down against his side and gently bit one of the bracelets around his wrist to tug his hand onto her back. Apparently just being there was enough of a comfort.

Satori’s expression turned fond and distant. “He’s been my best friend since high school and I want him to trust me as much as I trust him. Even when I moved away and we didn’t go to the same school anymore, we stayed in contact because he makes me the happiest out of everyone ever in the world! Even last year when... When I hit rock bottom and I thought no one else would be there for me, he never left. Other people stuck by me as well, not just him! But I thought for sure he would give up on me... But he never has.”

Satori sat up at once and Kat jumped to her feet. Wherever Satori was going next, he looked determined. “We’re going to Wal-Mart since we’re already halfway there and then we’re going to go home and clean everything! We have the whole weekend to work on the shirts. I owe this to Wakatoshi first and foremost!

Kat hopped back into her bag, content to listen to Satori’s humming as they walked over to the Wal-Mart. 

 

Satori walked at full speed to the Wal-Mart, with a spring in his step and a tune in his head. When they reached the front doors, Satori stopped short, his hummed song dying in his mouth as he looked down at Katrina.

“Uh. I think I’m going to have to zip your bag shut. Cats aren’t allowed in Wal-Mart and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away with this again. I don’t want to leave you outside though so we’re going to have to go super stealth.”

Kat wasn’t particularly excited about that, but she obediently popped her head inside the bag and let Satori zip it shut over her.

The inside of the bag was hot and stuffy and smelled like art materials, but Kat did her best to stay still and quiet. It wouldn’t be good if someone found out that Satori was carrying a cat in his bag.

She could still hear Satori quietly humming as he entered the store and there was a bit of relief as Kat felt the air conditioning begin to cool her down.

Satori was a quick walker and he knew exactly what he needed to get so he raced through the aisles. Once or twice, Kat heard a “Hang on in there, Katrina, I’m almost done...” It was sweet how Satori was looking out for her still.

It only took about ten minutes for Satori to grab what he needed before Kat could hear the sporadic beeps from the checkout lanes.

Satori placed his items on the conveyor belt and chirped a quick hello to the cashier.

“Find everything alright today?” said a woman's voice.

“I did! Thank you!”

“Is that all you're purchasing today, sir?”

“Um, yeah? Why?”

“May I ask what’s in your bag?”

Kat shifted. It was a pretty suspicious to carry around a duffel bag.

Satori just giggled. “If I was planning on stealing something, I'd be much less obvious about it, don't you think?”

“What do you have in there, sir?” the woman asked, sounding less patient now.

“Just art supplies. They're mine. I didn't steal anything, I promise.”

Kat was nudged around as Satori rummaged in one of the side pockets for his nice markers.

“It's just these. I came from class just now. I'm an art student. S-see, the red one is almost out of ink because I use it a lot. You can check. I've had these all year and I would n-never think of shoplifting.”

“What's in the big pocket of your bag, sir?”

Kat scooted as far back as she could but Satori unzipped her pouch and coaxed her out.

“My cat...” Satori explained.

The woman shouted and within seconds several people in Wal-Mart uniforms joined them.

“No no I'm not trying to cause a scene! You don't need to be here, security people! I'll just leave!”

Kat meowed in protest as someone plucked her bag out of Satori's hand.

“Sir, you're not in trouble, please just come with us to the office really fast, okay?”

Satori didn't fight, and Kat followed suit as they were led to the security office.

One of the security officers set the duffel on a table and looked at Satori. “Alright, can you just take everything out of your bag for me, sir? We aren't trying to accuse you of stealing, but we need to keep the store safe and you can't just bring your pets in here.”

Satori still looked hopeful. “Well, the only reason I had to bring Katrina with me was that I couldn't leave her outside unguarded! I just came from class and then a friend’s store and it would've been out of my way to go home first and I don't like leaving her home alone because she’ll be bored without me and I love the guy I share the apartment with but he's not home right now either because he's with his boyfriend so if Katrina needs water, who’s gonna get it for her?”

The security guard looked less than impressed by Satori's ramble. “Just take everything out of the bag.”

Satori sighed. He set down the markers he still had clutched in his hand. “Copic markers. Mine. I got the at an art store downtown months ago and no, I don't have a receipt.”

Satori pulled Kat out of the bag and kissed her forehead gently before setting her down on the table as well before diving back into the bag. “Kitten, kitten toys from the pet shop on Gay Street, sketchbook, colored pencils, chip bag, pillow for Katrina, empty juice bottle, crushed soda can, a flower, hey— that's where I put my manga! Katrina, why didn't you tell me it was in your bag!— uh, a single paintbrush, a coupon for Dairy Queen, aaaand an extra pair of socks! Wow, how did this bag get so messy in two days? How did all of this even fit in here?”

The security guard raised one eyebrow and looked at the bag in his own hand of what Satori had been attempting to purchase. “Three ten-packs of white t-shirts and organic fabric paint?”

Satori nodded. “It has to be organic because I don't want to accidentally hurt Katrina so this stuff should come out of her fur pretty easily.”

Kat could've facepalmed. Satori was not helping his case. If anything, every time he opened his mouth, he was probably making himself appear more insane.”

“Unfortunately, sir, I don't think we can let you just leave for the safety of our customers. Do you have someone you could call to come pick you up?”

“I... I could call Eita, but he would be sad that I interrupted date night. Not that they don't spend, like, every night together. Last night when I got home from hanging out with my best friend Wakatoshi —which, for your information, was  _ not _ a date— he and Taichi —that’s Eita's boyfriend— were totally making out and I—”

“So can you call your friend to come get you or not?” The security officer was not looking any more amused by Satori.

Satori nodded silently and slid his phone out of his pocket. “... Eita? Are you with Taichi right now? ... I know. I kind of need your help with something. Wal-Mart security people aren’t going to let me leave until I have someone with me so can you come and help me out? ... No, I didn’t try to steal anything! ... Thirty white t-shirts and organic fabric paint. ... Because it’s animal-friendly, Eita! ... Fine. I, Tendou Satori, swear on all my art supplies that the undersigned, Semi Eita, will never have to bail me out of Wal-Mart jail ever again ‘til death do us part. Can you just come pick me up now? ... Thank’s Eita. I’ll see you soon. Bye.”

Satori sighed and put his phone down on the table, reaching now for Katrina.

“Your friend is coming?” The guard asked.

“Mhm. He’ll be here in ten minutes, but he’s probably more of a threat to your shoppers than I am when he’s mad.”

“Sir, you do understand that you can’t bring a cat in here.”

“Think of her as an honorary human. She’s very smart, she’s just... A cat.”

“Sit down in that chair and wait for your friend.”

Satori obeyed and stroked Kat absently until a knock on the door brought the security worker to his feet so he could let Eita into the room.

Satori stood up quickly and jammed all of his possessions and new purchases into his duffel bag, with the exception of Kat, who he continued holding.

Eita was scowling slightly as he talked quietly with the security officer.

The guard gave his permission and Eita gestured for Satori to follow him out of the office.

“Did you drive here?” Satori asked as they cleared the front doors.

“I did. I was at Taichi’s, remember.”

“I’ll apologize in advance for probably getting cat hair in your car then...”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Both men slid into the car as Eita unlocked the doors remotely.

“Eita, are you mad at me?” Satori asked.

Eita pulled out onto the street and pondered. “No, but I’m a little annoyed at having to clean up your messes all the time.”

“You should’ve seen the cashier lady’s face when I told her I had a cat in my bag though... It was priceless.”

Eita’s expression softened. “I can imagine. Most people can’t handle your level of weird.”

“You can?”

“Being able to live with you is my super power. Don’t tell anyone about my alter ego.”

“What’s your secret identity?”

“Tired.”

Satori laughed. “Sorry, Eita, you’re stuck with me until Taichi moves out of the dorms next year and you can live with him instead of me. I’m lucky I snagged you before you guys started dating or I don’t know where I’d live.”

Eita frowned. “You’re going to live somewhere else next year? It’s a two-bedroom apartment. Taichi and I don’t exactly sleep separately.”

Satori shrugged. “I don’t want to be in the way and I want to be independent! And I don’t want to have to deal with your make-up in the bathroom and your seven phone chargers taking up all the outlets and the way you turn the TV on when you’re cooking food even if you’re just microwaving popcorn.”

Eita laughed. “First of all, I like having a charger in every room. Then I don’t have to get off the couch or off my bed when my charger is in the other room. Second, I like having something to watch while I’m making food. Cooking sucks. Third, you leave all the cupboard doors open all the time and you put robot stickers all over the microwave and there’s still gross sticky residue on the plastic and you hoard spoons in your room. It’s fair.”

Satori smiled. “But I brought a cat home. So that’s one good thing I have going for me, right?”

“It’d be more of a plus if my boyfriend wasn’t allergic to it. You’re fine to stay though, Satori. You know that, right?”

Satori glanced out the window. “Yeah, I know.”

“Are you wanting to go home right now?”

“As opposed to...?”

“I don’t know. Apparently, you were at Wal-Mart buying thirty t-shirts and organic fabric paint so maybe you want me to drop you off at the shady Asian food place next. I’ve learned to expect the unexpected from you.”

Satori laughed. “Don’t take me to the shady Asian place... I don’t trust them! I need to get home and start working on this project! And guess what the best part of it is?”

“Considering I don’t even know what this project is...”

“I’m getting paid for this so I can start paying you back a bit of what I owe you.”

“Oh, nice. Keep in mind that every penny you find on the sidewalk still belongs to me though. I own your ass.”

Satori shrugged exaggeratedly. “The other day I asked you and Taichi if you wanted me to join in but you said no so apparently my ass isn’t worth all that much to you anyway.”

Eita laughed out loud and pulled to the curb outside their apartment. “Are you going to be okay on your own for the night or am I going to need to come bail you out of Wal-Mart jail again.”

“Go enjoy your night.” Satori grinned and climbed out of the car. “Thank you, Eita.”

“Yep. See you later.”

Satori sighed happily and let himself back into the apartment, let Kat jump down to the floor. “Good to be home, huh?”

Kat meowed tiredly. It had been a long and eventful day and she wanted to just curl up and go to sleep. She wanted Satori to sleep too. He’d been up since 3 am painting and he certainly looked tired.

“Okay,” Satori said firmly. “I said I was going to clean tonight and Eita’s not even going to recognize my room when he comes home tomorrow. And then I’ll have Wakatoshi over to show him that I do care about my artwork. Maybe I’ll even find some cool things in my room! I don’t know what all is in there even!”

When Satori shoved his bedroom door open enough to squeeze inside, Kat jumped onto the bed, meowing loudly.

Satori looked at her for a few moments and nodded. “It’s only 9 pm, Katrina... But I guess you’re right. It has been a long day. I’ll clean in the morning. I need to stay motivated though. You need to help me get pumped up tomorrow morning, Katrina! Neither of us are morning people, but that’s okay because we’re going to get up and get a lot done anyway!”

Kat wasn’t sure she wanted to get up early and be productive, but she was just happy that Satori had understood that he needed to get some extra rest to make up for his weird previous night.

Satori lay in bed doodling in a small sketchbook with a pen by the light of the full moon for just a short while before tossing his materials to the floor, rolling over, hugging Kat, and falling asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Kat opened her eyes slowly to the sun streaming through the window. It was already warm for the morning and she just wanted to go back to sleep curled up next to—

Kat raised her head when she didn’t find Satori next to her.

Instead of savoring the lazy weekend morning, Satori was already across the room, humming loudly to himself while he sifted through the stack of artworks covering his floor.

Kat meowed and jumped off the bed to wade through the receding pile of paper toward him.

“Katriiiinaaaaa!” Satori cooed when he noticed her. He pulled her into his arms and rocked her gently. “Good morning, sleepy kitten!”

Kat looked around her. Where there had previously been piles of canvases, papers, and random art utensils, she could actually see the off-white carpet.

Satori hadn’t been awake long and hadn’t made much headway in the disaster, but he had successfully started the work ahead of him and that was probably the hardest part, at least in Kat’s opinion.

“I’m just going to try and organize everything,” Satori voice out loud. “If I sort stuff out, I’ll be able to find a good home for it. You can’t really see any of it, but I have shelves on the far wall so I should be able to get everything into place there. I think some of these might be torn and I’ll have to throw them away. But if some of them are still in good shape, I’m thinking of selling them. Wakatoshi suggested it to me as a way of making a bit of money. It wouldn’t be a lot, but some people like little sketches that I could probably sell for a few dollars here and there. Art is hard sometimes. I never know what kind of demand there’s going to be. That’s why I’m really excited about making those t-shirts for the pet shop! It’s really cool that they asked me to do this. I don’t know if they would’ve if it wasn’t Hayato and Tsutomu, but I appreciate it anyway.”

Kat listened to Satori’s rambling contentedly and looked at his various artworks as he sorted them by medium used. Some of his works were a little unconventional, but Kat would still argue that they were beautiful. Some of the other ones were the most realistic sketches that Kat had ever seen. Satori had some serious talent and his passion for art was clearly portrayed in his style and the sheer number of pictures layering the floor.

“I’m going to start working on those shirts just as soon as I’m done with cleaning up a little. I’ll leave a bit of it for later but I do really want to get some shirts done today! You’re still okay with helping me out with those, Katrina? I do appreciate you being my partner in crime. And technically all of this is because of you! If you hadn’t gotten my shirt all covered in paint, I would’ve never gotten this opportunity! I’m glad you fell into my life Katrina... I think when I’m making the shirts, I’m going to do all 30. I only need 24 for the pet shop guys but the shirts I found only came in 10-packs so I have 30. If it’s okay with you, I want to make the extras! I can give them to people like Wakatoshi and Eita as gifts and also as thank yous for putting up with me and for helping me take care of you!”

Kat glanced over at Satori’s desk where the white t-shirts and the fabric paint were stacked precariously on top of a backpack and another pile of canvases. Getting more paint on her wasn’t something she wanted to repeat, but Satori’s excitement was contagious. She did want to help Satori make money and do things for his friends.

Satori paused from his cleaning and looked over at Kat. After a moment, he broke into a wide grin and patted her head. “All of this is because of you really. I was starting to get a little distant from a lot of my friends. Eita is the exception just because we live together so we’re forced to interact. I didn’t think I was ever going to get distant from Wakatoshi but after last year... But then you found us and I’ve gotten to hang out with him a lot again and I’m really happy! But I don’t think that we would’ve gotten close again without you. I kinda lost my confidence but you’re... you’re a good wing-cat. N-not that I’m trying to date Wakatoshi! Maybe I do... I do want to, but I’m okay if it doesn’t work out as long as we can still be friends, right?”

Feeling a bit sorrowful for Satori’s pain, Kat nuzzled his cheek with her face. She wasn’t sure what had gone down last year, but thinking about it seemed to darken Satori’s cheer so she knew it couldn’t be good.

“Thanks, Katrina,” Satori said softly, leaning back against his bed and stroking her back. “You’re a good listener. I trust you with my insecurities. And there’s not many people that I do! Well, I guess you’re not really a person. But the point still stands!”

Kat mewed happily. She still wished that she could be human again so she could do more for her new friend, but he still appeared to be happy with her the way she currently was.

A soft knock on the door brought Kat out of her thoughts. The door slammed open and Eita stumbled into the room, nearly falling before he caught himself on the doorframe.

“Dude, what the hell?” Eita looked around the room and his eyes settled on Satori.

“What is it?” Satori asked, a confused smile playing across his face.

Eita glared and pointed at the floor. “This. I normally have to shove your door open but it gave right away. It’s clean in here.”

Satori laughed out loud. “It is clean, Eita! I’m cleaning everything right now! I’m finding a home for all of my artwork and throwing away stuff that’s ruined. And the best part is that you’ll be able to open the door again!”

Eita blinked. “Oh. Wow. I didn’t expect that of you.”

“Well, Wakatoshi was here yesterday and he didn’t like that some of my stuff was getting ruined so I’m going to clean it all up so he’s happy!”

Eita smirked. “Then you’re going to have him over again?”

Satori blushed slightly. “Well, yeah, I do want to. But this cleaning session is long overdue anyway. Did you just get home?”

“Yep. I heard you talking and I had no idea who you would be talking to. I should’ve guessed it would be Katrina. You’re always talking to Katrina.”

“She’s a good listener!” Satori defended, pulling Kat up against his chest. “And she doesn’t tell me to shut up and she doesn’t mind if I tell the same joke twice and she sits still while I draw her and she loves me!”

Eita rolled his eyes. “Well. I’m glad you have such a great new friend.”

“You jealous?”

“Not really.”

Satori giggled. “How was Taichi’s?”

Eita ran a hand through his hair, smiling faintly. “Good. We’re definitely going to move in together over the summer. He doesn’t want to do anything during the school year, but I think he’s ready to leave the dorms. And have a better roommate.”

Satori smiled. “Well, I’m sure that Kenjirou loves when you come over and crash the place too.”

“Taichi and Kenjirou are good friends, but I’m stealing Taichi for my own next year.”

“I’m pretty sure they’d both be alright with that arrangement as good of friends as they are,” Satori said, still grinning.

“Yeah. I’ll let you get back to your cleaning. Come find me if you want to go out for lunch or anything later.”

“I will! Have a good morning Eita!”

“You too.” Eita smiled and left the room. Then came back in. “This is crazy. I can actually open your door. I can’t even believe this.”

Satori laughed. “You can play with my door later, Eita! I’m busy right now!”

Eita grinned and left the room for good.

Satori bounced Kat gently in his lap and looked around his room. “I got everything sorted. I’m kind of tired of working though. I’ll finish it another time. I got stuff done and that’s what I set out to do today! Now I’m going to work on those shirts for Tsutomu and Hayato! Are you ready, Katrina?”

Kat meowed in agreement and put a paw against Satori’s chest. She really wished she were human so she could do this.

Satori smiled and stood up, grabbing the Wal-Mart bag off his desk. “It’s really nice outside so I was thinking that we could do it out there. There’s less of a chance of accidentally getting paint everywhere that way. Eita wouldn’t be happy if we got paint in the kitchen or something.”

Kat scampered after Satori out the door to the sidewalk next to the apartment building.

Satori sat down on his knees on the sidewalk and pulled out the first shirt, sticking a piece of cardboard between the layers of fabric to prevent the paint from bleeding through. He poured some blue paint in an empty sour cream container and set it down next to the shirt.

“Okay, Katrina! The rest is all you!”

Kat hesitantly put one of her front paws in the paint. She still wasn’t entirely used to this whole thing of being a cat and the paint felt strange between her toes.

She looked up suddenly as something cold hit her back and she found Satori pouring paint on her.

Kat took a deep breath and pounced on the shirt, getting her blue paws all over it and rolling over to smear her painted fur across the white surface.

Satori laughed, delighted. “Katrina, this is so good! You’re an amazing artist!”

Kat wasn’t sure what he was talking about; all she was doing was smearing paint around, though once again she found his excitement contagious and she loved rolling around on the shirts that much more.

Two hours had passed and the two had gotten through most of the shirts. Kat was starting to get tired of being continually doused with paint, rolled across fabric and then cleaned off. Satori sat back, wiping a bit of the warm day’s sweat from his forehead. “You look tired, Katrina. Do you want to call it a day? We can finish these up tomorrow if that’s okay with you.”

Kat meowed her agreement and stood up off a t-shirt she had been painting purple and black.

Satori blinked. “Woah. Katrina, I like that one. It’s pretty. I have an idea for that one. Do you think Wakatoshi would like that if we gave it to him? I think he would. I think purple is still his favorite color. It was when we were in high school together. We have to take this over to him. Do you think so?”

Kat reached up and placed a purple paw print on Satori’s cheek.

The redhead giggled and dipped a finger in the paint to dab onto Katrina’s nose. “There. Now we match. Thank you for the stamp!”

Katrina purred happily as she was carried back inside and gently placed in the sink. Satori had washed her off every time they changed paint colors, but he insisted she deserved a nice warm bath while he shampooed any remaining paint out of her fur.

“Think we can go over to Wakatoshi’s now, Katrina?” Satori asked. “It’s a Saturday so I imagine he’ll either be in his dorm or at the gym. It’s worth a shot to try going over there right?”

Kat mewed in confirmation as Satori drained the water from the sink and dried her off with a soft towel. If she understood Wakatoshi correctly, he probably wasn’t going to be floored by the gift of the t-shirt, but he’d understand its significance to Satori and hey, it would be pretty cool to see the man walking around covered in her paw prints like Satori did as his wrecked t-shirt had become one of his favorites.

Satori lightly touched the drying paint on a couple of the shirts he’d spread out across the kitchen table “They’re dry! That’s the green light! Katrina let’s go!”

Kat ran after Satori as he waited for her by the door. She was looking forward to getting to walk around on her own since Satori wasn’t dragging her to class with him. Technically, animals weren’t exactly allowed on campus and Kat didn’t want a repeat of the Wal-Mart incident, but they were only going to and from the dorms so in theory, she’d be safe.

Satori kept his pace slightly more contained to allow Kat to easily keep up with him but he didn’t lose the spring in his step or the quietly hummed tune on his lips.

Kat knew the way to Wakatoshi’s dorm as well since they had just been there the other night after the “date” and Satori looked confident as he knocked on the door.

It was answered not by Wakatoshi, but by another man of solid build with darker skin and short black hair, warm eyes and a kind smile.

“Reon!” Satori exclaimed, his expression lighting up. “Hi! How are you!”

Reon grinned. “I’m well, Satori, how are you? It’s been a while since you’ve come by here.”

The light in Satori’s eyes dimmed just slightly, then turned back to full blast. “Yeah! Sorry about that, I did mean to, I just never really got around to it. But I’m here now, right? Is Wakatoshi home?”

Reon glanced at his watch. “He’s at the gym, but he said that he’d be coming back about now. Do you want to come inside?”

Satori nodded and hopped inside the small room and perched himself on the edge of one of the desks.

Kat ran inside as well and circled Satori’s feet.

Reon looked down in surprise. “You brought Katrina?”

Satori laughed and picked Kat up. “Of course! You needed to meet her formally!”

Reon smiled and ran his warm hand over Kat’s head. “Wakatoshi told me she was a good cat and she even sat still while you guys were studying together the other night.”

Satori nodded. “She’s a very good cat. I bring her to class with me.”

Reon blinked. “Oh? Is that allowed?”

“Probably not, but no one’s said anything to me about it, so that means she’s coming with me always!”

Reon laughed. The door clicked open again and Wakatoshi stepped inside, blinking in surprise at the uninvited guests in his room.

“You’re back!” Satori exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “I came to see you!”

Wakatoshi tilted his head. “Was there any particular reason for this?”

“I mean, I kinda just wanted to talk to you about something!”

Reon moved for the door. “I was planning on studying in the library for a while anyway. You guys can talk in private.”

“I’m going to come back again soon and talk to you, Reon!” Satori waved.

Wakatoshi sat down on his bed. “You look excited today, Satori.”

“Don’t you know me, Wakatoshi? I’m always excited!” Satori flashed a peace sign and grinned.

“What did you have to talk to me about?”

“Welllll, a couple things really! First of all, here! I made this for you! Purple is still your favorite color, right?”

Satori handed the folded shirt in his hands over to Wakatoshi happily.

Wakatoshi held it out in front of him and looked it over. “Are these Katrina’s paw prints?”

“Yeah! And I got her to lay on it with paint as well so now it kinda looks like my shirt from the day we found her! It’s kinda cool in an abstract, modern-y, minimalistic-ish kind of way, right?”

Wakatoshi nodded and refolded the shirt. “Thank you for the gift, Satori. It will be nice to have something of Katrina’s before you have to give her back to her original owner.”

Kat looked up at Satori. He looked a little sad at that topic, but Kat just wanted to be able to tell him that he’d never have to give her back to anyone. Even when she found a way to turn herself human again, she wouldn’t stray far from Satori.

“Yeah well, I had her with me in class all week and no one said anything about missing a cat. I’m starting to wonder where her previous owner is and why they’re not looking for her.”

“Do not form unrealistic hopes, Satori,” Wakatoshi cautioned. “The day may come. But enjoy her company for now, absolutely.”

“I know,” Satori replied, smiling again. “And there’s another thing I have to tell you! I cleaned up my room! You don’t have to be mad at me anymore!”

Wakatoshi cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “I said before, Satori; I’m not angry with you. I merely think you should take better care of your belongings, especially your artwork. I’m glad you’ve decided to clean up though.”

“Yeah yeah! It looks much better now! It’s not all the way clean, but everything is at least sorted and out of the way of the door. Wakatoshi, you should’ve seen! Eita almost totally biffed it trying to come into my room because the door could actually open and it was really really funny!”

“That sounds comical,” Wakatoshi replied simply while Satori was cracking up.

“Hey! Do you want to come over? We could grab dinner again and you can see how clean my room is and we can just talk or watch TV or something! That is, if you don’t have anything to do tonight, yeah?”

Wakatoshi considered for a brief second. “I would have time tonight to spend with you.”

“Alright!” Satori shouted, throwing his fist in the air. “Let’s go! It’s pretty much dinner time and I’m starving!”

 

The two grabbed dinner at the nearby Steak n’ Shake then headed back over to Satori’s apartment. Wakatoshi seemed much more satisfied by the state of Satori’s room when he walked in again.

“What do you thiiink?” Satori sang, hopping on his bed that was clear of papers and pens.

“It looks nice in here.” Wakatoshi nodded. “Are you going to finish up?”

“It’s pretty okay right now, don’t you think so?” Satori asked nervously. “I mean, it’s better than it was, right?”

“If I may help, I believe we could be able to fit a lot of this onto your shelves. And if you’re planning on selling any of your artwork, you’re going to need to take pictures of it.”

“We don’t have to clean right now though, Wakatoshi! I meant I was going to finish it some other time!”

Wakatoshi had already begun replacing drawings on Satori’s shelves and Satori hurried over the join him, launching almost instantly into stories he needed to tell his best friend.

Kat sat on the bed and watched the two work. She thought about what Satori had told her about being the reason he had reconnected with Wakatoshi. She doubted two people with this much chemistry would be able to stay apart for long, but she would accept credit for the work anyway if it made Satori happy. She put her head down and fell asleep to the sound of Satori’s excited chatter, waking up again briefly to voices in the hall, then Satori sliding into bed next to her.

“I want to spend a lot more evenings with him,” Satori said, petting Kat. “I love him... I love you too, Katrina. You’re a good kitten.”


	11. Chapter 11

The next day, Sunday, was even warmer, but Kat was decently happy riding in her bag at Satori’s side.

Satori had been up late sketching again after Wakatoshi had left and Kat had fallen asleep so it was fairly late in the morning when they both woke up again. Satori had wanted to finish up making the shirts for the pet store and it hadn’t taken them long now that they were both expert shirt-decorators.

The shirts were all folded in a plastic bag in Satori’s other hand, dried and ready to be given away.

The pet store was occupied by a few customers on the warm afternoon, but Tsutomu ran to the front of the store to greet Satori as soon as the striking redhead made his appearance.

“Satori!” Tsutomu yelled. He dropped to his knees on the floor and rubbed Kat’s head as well. “Hello, Katrina! Have you been super helpful to Satori and all of us lately?”

“Oh, she has been!” Satori agreed, handing over the bag of shirts. “I’m not going to lie, I think these all look really good. Just thank your friendly neighborhood artist cat. She was a champ at putting up with the paint and her designs are really cute! I think she knew it was for a special purpose!”

Tsutomu looked through the bag, pulling one off the top that Satori had made especially for him. “These are so! Cool! I’m going to go change right now! Hayato’s here too! Let me go get him so he can pay you for these.”

Satori followed the younger student to the back and watched Hayato’s face light up when Tsutomu handed him the bag.

“That was really quick work, Satori!” Hayato praised, looking through the pile of shirts with satisfaction. “These look really cool too. Dude, you’re the best!”

Satori beamed. “It was no problem! It was actually really fun and I think Katrina had a good time too! We’re an amazing team!”

“It looks like it,” Hayato agreed, reaching down to scratch Kat’s head. He handed an envelope to Satori with a smile. “We’ll let you know if we happen to need your services again, alright? Thanks for the favor.”

Satori accepted the money gratefully and nodded. “Sure thing! I’m more than willing to do anything for you guys!”

Hayato and Tsutomu walked with Satori back up to the front of the store.

“Should I buy something for Katrina?” Satori asked. “I owe her for working with me, but I don’t know what she wants. We have a couple cat toys at home but she generally seems content even without them.”

Kat didn’t want Satori to buy her anything. It would just be a waste of money since she fully intended to figure out how to turn herself back into a human just as soon as she could. She pulled her head inside the bag and curled up in a ball.

“Huh? Katrina, come out! You need to find a toy here that you like!”

Kat reached through the bag’s opening and batted at the zipper, wishing she’d be able to close it on her own.

Hayato laughed. “Is she the kind of cat that likes to play with any random object? Because then you really don’t even need toys.”

“I don’t know,” Satori said pensively. “She doesn’t really play a whole lot. She just watches me and listens to me and snuggles with me. That’s all we really do. I have that little mouse that Tsutomu let us have, but she doesn’t really like that either.”

Kat huffed silently. Soon. Soon she would escape this demeaning feeling of being treated like a cat. She was far above mouse toys or anything Satori could buy her here. But it wouldn’t be long now. She was sure of it.

“Well, I imagine we’ll be back here again soon, so we’ll try to find something then. Thanks you guys for everything!”

“No, thank  _ you _ , Satori!” Tsutomu exclaimed. “Thanks for making these shirts for us and for coming in!”

“You’re always welcome here, Satori,” Hayato agreed. “And so is Katrina!”

Kat stuck her head back out of the bag to mew happily at them all. She was making so many friends via Satori that she hoped she’d be able to stay close to even as a human again.

 

Satori skipped home and promptly knocked on Eita’s bedroom door. “Eita! I have something for you!”

“Is it an untimely death?” came the muffled response from inside. “Because I would welcome that about now.”

Satori stifled a laugh and opened the door. Eita had a textbook open on his lap, but he was laying down passively.

“Nope! It’s better than that! Payday!” Satori opened the envelope and shoved $300 of the $360 he’d received into Eita’s hands.

“Woah,” Eita’s eyes widened. “Satori, this is a lot.”

Satori shrugged. “You own my soul at this point, Eita.”

“True enough.”

“I’m thinking that this’ll be the first movement in a new me! I really liked this project so I’m going to try and do more stuff like this! Then I’ll finally be able to pay you back for everything.”

Eita raised one eyebrow. “It’ll take a while, but I appreciate that, Satori.”

Satori nodded happily and skipped back toward the door.

He flopped down on his bed and held Kat on his chest. “Things are looking up, I think. If I keep going on this route, I think I’ll finally get somewhere I’m happy with. Already I’m talking to the people I want to be talking to again even if I haven’t for a while. And I made money doing art! And that’s like, best case scenario! And since Wakatoshi helped me finish sorting through all of my old works, I should be able to set up some way of selling those. Even if it’s not much, the extra cash would be really helpful. Katrina, one of these days I’m going to be an artist for real. And it’s going to be amazing.”

Kat pushed her nose against Satori’s hand. He looked so happy like this, dreaming of the future. She had started to get a sense of the loneliness that Satori was just beginning to overcome. She knew herself how easy it was to be alone. It took effort to talk to people and it took patience and motivation in order to maintain relationships. Most of the time it was worth the effort, but sometimes like was just too difficult to manage and inconsequential things like friendships fell by the wayside. Sometimes the only thing that mattered was art. Sometimes the only achievable thing was making it through the day. In times like those, friendships and keeping up with people was too much work, but if Kat had been playing the role of icebreaker for Satori to reconnect with his friends as he’d said, she was happy to keep being there for him. It was a lot easier to start a conversation when you had a new cat by your side to introduce first.

Satori pushed himself into a sitting position and stood up quickly. “I’m going to paint. I’m going to finish that piece from the other night. I really really want to! I need to pay Wakatoshi back for a couple things so I’ll take that money over to him as well, but I think I’m going to give this to him as well. When he was over here last night, he kept looking at it. I think he wants me to finish it. And then I can give it to him as a present!”

Kat crawled around the bed, meowing excitedly. Satori seemed to be in a much better mindset than the last time he’d worked on this painting and she hoped the positive energy flowing through the room would bring him success.

Satori glanced around the room. Without all of his artwork cluttering the floor, there was actual space to move around and he could actually get to the wood easel in the corner. Satori set the canvas up against the window anyway. He glanced outside before picking up his paints. “Katrina, remind me to eat dinner. The sun is setting but I want to at least work on this a little bit first while I have the inspiration.”

Kat hopped onto the floor and sat at Satori’s feet. She would make sure he ate dinner absolutely, but she did understand the feeling of needing to work while the inspiration was fresh.

The brush strokes Satori used were very small, only adding minor details to the figures in his painting. The last time he had worked on this, he’d been interrupted before he could finish a section of figures, but he left that space blank as well.

Kat lazily watched him paint, feeling very relaxed by his soft humming that faded in and out as his focus fluctuated.

When an hour had passed and Satori took a step back to look at his progress, Kat meowed loudly. It was getting late and dinner needed to be found.

Satori looked down at her and immediately broke into a smile. “You hungry, Katrina? Let’s go find dinner. I’ll just keep my focus so I can come right back to this!”

Kat still wasn’t fond of cat food, but it wasn’t as bad as she would’ve thought. Her cat taste buds probably explained that, but she still watched enviously as Satori rummaged around in a cabinet and found some pasta to boil.

Satori plunked down in a kitchen chair, fidgeting with his bracelets and staring at the stove. “I’ll be right back,” he muttered, standing up again. “Waiting for water to boil is boooring!”

Kat followed him back to his room, glancing at the clock as he picked up his paintbrush again.

Satori had left the door standing open so Kat walked back and forth between his room and the kitchen a few times to keep an eye on the food.

Kat jumped up on the kitchen counter and watched the water bubble. She resented her cat form once again and wished she could just finish making the meal for Satori. Unfortunately, all she could really do was go remind him of what he had started.

“Not now, Katrina,” Satori mumbled as Kat patted his foot with her paw.

Kat would’ve sighed. Satori was wrapped up in painting again. But he needed to take care of his food or the pot would boil over. She tried a few things from meowing to jumping onto the windowsill to get in Satori’s face, but he mostly ignored, her, his eyes on his work.

As much as Kat didn’t really want to call upon the last resort, Satori was too distracted now to be of much use in the kitchen.

Kat scampered back out of the room and batted at Eita’s door a few times.

“What, Satori?” Eita called back.

Kat patted the door again.

It swung open a second later and Eita looked down at her in surprise. “You?”

Kat jumped toward the kitchen and Eita followed her cautiously.

The pot had boiled over and hot water had spread across the stove and was dripping onto the floor.

Eita swore and turned the burner off. “Satori!” he yelled, marching back over to Satori’s room and pushing the door open.

Satori finally looked up from his painting, frowning at Eita’s peeved expression.

“Forget about something?’ Eita asked, crossing his arms. “You say to me that you want to live on your own again next year, but what happens when you get distracted from making food and you burn your place to the ground? Do you really think you want that?”

Realization dawned in Satori’s eyes and he looked past Eita at the door. “Did you...”

“Yeah, I turned the stove off. Satori, don’t kid yourself. There’s nothing wrong with admitting you still need help.”

“I don’t need help!” Satori looked nervous, fingering a thin, silver bracelet subconsciously.

“I’d love to see you after three days on your own. I really can’t imagine that going well for you.”

Satori’s troubled frown got deeper. “I’m not going to live with you next year, Eita. And I’m going to be fine.”

“You’re going to be fine, are you? Quite frankly, I doubt that considering your cat had to come tell me that you were wrecking the kitchen.”

“Eita, I—”

“Why do you think you owe me your soul in the first place, Satori? You still need my help!”

“I don’t! I can live on my own again!”

“Satori, don’t lie to yourself! Just imagine it! You don’t buy groceries, you can’t even keep your room clean, you don’t even pay rent! I make sure we can live here!”

Satori took a step back, tears sparkling in his eyes.

A fire ignited in Eita’s eyes. “Satori, you’ve never been too prideful to admit you need help when you really really need it, so why are you being stubborn now?

“I’m working on it, Eita! I’m going to start making my own money and I’ll be able to pay rent and I’ll pay you back for everything!”

“Will you, Satori? Are you really going to be so successful to pay me back when you can’t even focus long enough to make yourself dinner? I’m always the one taking care of you so the least you can do is admit that!”

Satori wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, taking a step toward Eita. “If I’m such a burden, then why do you still insist upon taking care of me!?”

“Because I’m your friend and you tried to take your own life! Do you really think I’d let you fend for yourself after that!?”

“That was a year ago! Everyone needs to move on from that already!”

“We can’t, Satori! It was the scariest thing any of us has ever been through! None of us would ever abandon you after that, Satori!”

“ Well, you don’t need to baby me because of it!” 

“Are you sure? All you’ve done this evening is work on that stupid painting and block out everything else around you! How bad is it going to get again, Satori!?”

“I’m not alone anymore! I’m working on this for Wakatoshi! He wants to see it finished!”

“Wakatoshi doesn’t care about that one specific painting, he wants to see you take care of yourself like I do. And this is not it!”

“You’re wrong! He’d be really happy if I finished this! Which is why I’m going to work on this until it’s done! I don’t care if it takes me all night!”

“Satori, take care of yourself!” Eita lunged forward to grab at the painting.

“Eita, don’t! You’re going to smudge the wet paint!” Satori threw himself in front of the painting, his arm knocking into the jar of blue paint he’d been using. He gasped and jerked to catch it, but the blue paint splashed upward as the jar hit the ground, splattering both Satori and Eita along with the wall and the carpet.

Satori froze.

Eita looked down at the mess, his mouth open.

A tear ran down from Satori’s eye. “Eita, I’m sorry!” He leapt into action, snatching his painting off the window and brushing past Eita. Satori leaned down to grab the duffel bag and Kat jumped into it just as Satori raced out of the room.

“Satori, stop running away from the messes you make! I’m tired of cleaning up after you!”

“Well, then this’ll be the last one! I’m sorry for being a burden for so long!”

“Satori, wait!”

Satori didn’t bother taking his key off the hook when he ran through the door.


	12. Chapter 12

It was fully dark now, but Satori walked hastily away from the apartment building, sniffling and rubbing at his face with his arm.

Kat meowed at him worriedly. A lot had just happened and she wanted him to go back and make amends with Eita. Storming out wasn’t going to help either of them. Kat didn’t know where Satori was going and that made her even more nervous. She didn’t know if Satori knew where he was going. And that was even worse.

Satori kept his head down as he moved quickly down the sidewalk, still carefully holding the painting in one of his hands.

Kat meowed loudly to get his attention. Satori looked down automatically and smiled sadly.

“It’s okay, Katrina. I just needed to get some fresh air. It’s okay. We’re okay.”

Kat still didn’t feel very okay, but she kept quiet. The night was very dark and Satori’s usual energy that drove away shadows wasn’t there to light the way. There wasn’t anyone else out on the streets walking: not unexpected for a Sunday night, and few cars drove down the main road every few minutes.

After several minutes of silent ambling down the street, a car did come and it pulled over to the curb next to Satori. The passenger side window rolled down as the car came to a stop and Taichi stuck his head out.

“Satori.”

Kat shifted in her bag, hoping to pull Satori toward the car.

Satori took one stumbling step toward the street then made his decision and quickly got into the back seat of the sedan.

“I told you he was fine,” Kenjirou said from the front seat, pulling back out onto the road. “Taichi was freaking out over here.”

“Was not,” Taichi argued. “Can you even picture me ‘freaking out?’ It doesn’t happen.”

“Well, Taichi’s worrying was the only reason we came to find you, Satori. I knew you’d be fine,” Kenjirou snapped, though he sounded just as relieved.

“T-thanks, guys!” Satori said, forcing cheerful into his voice. “I’m okay though! I really just needed some fresh air. I think Eita’s really mad at me and I don’t really blame him.”

“What happened?” Taichi asked, turning around in his seat. “All Eita said when he called me is that you guys got into an argument and he didn’t think you would want to talk to him but he wanted you to have somewhere to go.”

“Oh... That’s really nice of him to call you. I kinda figured he’d still be mad at me. I left him a bit of a mess to clean up honestly... I spilled paint on myself and him and the floor in my bedroom...”

Kenjirou looked at Satori in the rear-view mirror. “Are you getting wet paint in my fucking car? I will let you back out, I swear—”

Taichi smacked his roommate to silence him.

Satori half smiled. “No, it’s dried by now. I didn’t get a whole lot on me anyway. Most of it ended up... on the carpet... Should I be looking for somewhere else to live?”

Taichi smirked and shook his head. “Nah, he’ll give you shit about it for the rest of your life, but he’s not actually mad about it. He was more worried about you I think and he was having a stressful day even before all of that happened. When you left so suddenly, he just feared the worst.”

“Well, then I need to go back! What if he feels guilty? And I need to help clean up my mess!”

“Stop freaking out,” Kenjirou chided. Eita would never hate you. Even if he has to clean up all the paint you got on the floor. He’s weird, but he cares.”

Taichi sniffed. “If you want to, you can stay in our dorm for the night. Eita says he wants you to come back, but if you need some time to cool off, you can hang with us.”

Satori leaned back in his seat, smiling. “I think as long as he isn’t mad, I’ll go back home. But that means a lot to me. Thank you, guys. Thanks for coming to pick me up too.”

“No problem,” Kenjirou said grudgingly.

Taichi crossed his arms and looked back out the front window. “Yeah, well, don’t take it for granted. I wouldn’t offer for anyone else’s cat to share my space for an entire night under any circumstance.”

 

By the time the three walked back to Satori and Eita’s shared apartment, Satori was holding Kat in his arms and had passed off the painting to Taichi.

Kenjirou knocked on the door, then pulled away as his phone rang from his back pocket. “Hello?” he answered as the door swung open.

Eita pulled Satori inside and Kat jumped down to the floor as the two embraced.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Eita whispered.

“I just needed some fresh air,” Satori said, a little confused. “Why are you so worked up?”

“‘I’m sorry for being a burden for so long,’” Eita quoted, his eyebrows furrowing. “Satori, I thought you were going to try something again.”

Satori blinked back a few tears and hugged his friend tighter. “I’m sorry. I spoke without thinking. I don’t ever want to be that far gone again.”

“Hey, sorry to break up your little reunion over there,” Kenjirou interrupted, his phone still pressed to his ear. “Tsutomu wants to come over. He’s still freaking out.”

“Tsutomu?” Satori tilted his head.

Eita smirked. “Yeah, tell him it’s fine.”

“Why is Tsutomu freaking out?” Satori asked again.

Eita rubbed the back of his head. “I thought you were in danger, okay? I pretty much called everyone to come look for you.”

“Eita’s so sweet!” Satori exclaimed, making Eita blush. “My friends are amazing!”

“Whatever. Is your painting okay? I’m going to feel really shitty if I smudged it.”

“It’s alright, I think,” Satori said, looking over at the picture that Taichi had leaned up against the wall. “Is the paint on the floor bad? I’ll go—”

“I took care of it,” Eita cut him off. “It wasn’t too hard to clean up since it was wet.”

“Is that why you didn’t come looking for me too, Eita?” Satori teased. “Too worried about your carpet to come look for your runaway best friend?”

Eita narrowed his eyes. “Yes. The blue carpet would be harder to explain to the landlord.”

“Really? You told me you were worried Satori wouldn’t want to talk to you if you came after him,” Taichi commented, moving toward the kitchen to look for snacks. “Emotional nerd.”

Eita blushed. “Hey, mouth shut! Why do I even keep you around?”

“Aww, he does care,” Kenjirou mocked, plunking himself down on the couch. “Call the newspapers; it’s a historic moment.”

“You all suck,” Eita complained. “Satori, we have the worst friends.”

“ Well, at least they came looking for me instead of just worrying about carpet,” Satori teased, throwing himself onto the couch next to Kenjirou and poking the younger man’s arm.

“Fuck off.” Kenjirou smacked Satori’s hand away.

Kat jumped onto Satori’s lap and pawed at his shirt. She was happy that he was back home again and out of any danger. With friends like this, she didn’t know why she worried, but she was still relieved to see him happy again.

Within minutes, there was a knock on the door and Eita opened it to Tsutomu, Hayato, and Reon.

Hugs went around the room and Satori looked happier than Kat had ever seen him, surrounded by people who loved him.

“No Wakatoshi with you guys?” Satori looked at Reon.

Reon smiled slightly. “He said it might be uncomfortable to come looking for you since he was part of the subject of the argument, but if you want me to call him, he’ll absolutely come.”

“No, t-this is fine for right now. You guys need to help me out anyway.”

“Now what is it?” Kenjirou asked boredly.

“Don’t be rude!” Hayato hissed and smacked him.

“I’m  _ really _ in love with Wakatoshi, okay?” Satori confessed, a huge grin on his face. “It’s been so so amazing because I kinda stopped talking to him after last year, you know? And I thought maybe my little crush was starting to go away, but then after last week and finding Katrina and all of that and we’ve been hanging out more again and it’s just ten times stronger and I feel so alive!”

Eita rolled his eyes. “ Well, it was about time you admitted that. Jeez.”

“It’s okay, Satori. I believe in you.” Reon smiled.

Kenjirou huffed and dug into his pocket and slapped a $5 bill into a smirking Taichi’s hand.

“Are you guys gonna date!?” Tsutomu yelled.

Kat would’ve laughed if she could’ve but instead she just cuddled closer to Satori. His cheeks had gone bright red and he looked like he was about to blow up.

“You guys all know?” Satori asked incredulously.

“For the most part,” Hayato said, picking at one of his fingernails absently. “You’re not exactly subtle.”

“Does he know?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Reon answered. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he reciprocated the feelings. He talks about you to me quite a bit to me.”

“He does?”

Kat watched in amusement as Satori’s blush got even darker. She wondered offhandedly if his normal coloration would ever truly return after this.

“S-so should I like, a-ask him out?” Satori stammered.

“It’s worth a shot,” Hayato offered. “He’s not the kind of person to get freaked out even if he doesn’t like you back. Worst case scenario, you stay as friends like this.”

“You’re right! Okay! I’m gonna do it! Woah! Should I finish this painting and give it to him when I ask him or is that going to just make it weird if he says no?”

Taichi snickered. “I could say what I’m thinking, but I think I know what you’re going to do anyway.”

“What am I going to do?” Satori tilted his head in confusion.

“Oh come on.” Eita came up behind Satori and shook his shoulders. “You’re an all or nothing kind of guy. Win his heart or die trying. Go big or go home.”

Satori grinned. “You’re so right! You guys know me better than I do!”

 

After some more casual conversation, those that didn’t live in that apartment made their way to the front door.

Satori thanked them all for their caring and Kat said her goodbyes as well by rubbing against everyone’s legs until she was picked up and cuddled (with the exception of Taichi who looked like he was dying).

The door shut at last and Satori sighed happily, picking Kat back up and stroking her back gently.

“Hey, are we good?” Eita asked, leaning against the wall. “I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you? You’re my friend.”

“I said some shitty things, alright? And I didn’t really mean them. I know that you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself. I just get worried about you and I don’t always know how to express that correctly.”

“Apology accepted,” Satori replied with a grin. “Sorry for getting paint everywhere.”

“You’re forgiven. Just don’t do it again. If you’re gonna finish up that painting you might need some more of that light blue. Almost all of it got spilled, but I can spot you a few bucks to get more.”

Satori bit his lip. “That’s okay. It’s not your fault. I should be able to borrow a bit from the painting class though. I’ll go see about it tomorrow after class.”

Eita rubbed his hands over his face. “Ugh, there’s class in the morning, isn’t there. Weekends go by too fast.”

Satori laughed. “Yep, back to the daily grind. See you in the morning?”

Eita scoffed and opened his bedroom door. “Yeah right. You’re never up by the time I leave on Mondays.”

Satori smirked and headed for his own room. “That’s true... I’ll see you sometime tomorrow.”

 

Kat jumped from Satori’s arms to the bed as they entered the room.

Satori left again momentarily to grab his painting from the other room and place it back on his desk. He carefully looked at the spot on the floor that he’d spilled paint on. It was perfectly clean again and he smiled to himself before climbing into bed.

“I, Tendou Satori, am going to ask out Ushijima Wakatoshi soon,” he declared, pulling Kat close against his side. “I’ve loved him for a long long time and now is the perfect opportunity. I’ll talk to him tomorrow and tell him about the argument with Eita and make sure he knows that it was nothing bad about him specifically and then I’m going to finish the painting and ask him out in the most romantic way possible. It’s going to be incredible.”

Kat meowed in agreement, her eyes already starting to close for the night.


	13. Chapter 13

Mondays held the wonder of late afternoon classes for Satori and his alarm woke him up at noon.

Kat definitely could’ve slept longer, cozy and comfortable on Satori’s chest, but she was also happy to see him awake and alert and excited for class.

Satori was even more restless and antsy than usual during class. Kat tried to help him focus on his work, but it didn’t really work when he just got even more excited every time she would meow at him to concentrate.

The class ended at 5:00 and Satori was one of the first out of the room, heading immediately down the hall to the painting classroom.

Kat suddenly felt extremely antsy too. This was her classroom where she had been a week ago when her life had been changed.

No one was in the classroom at the moment and it was dark and quiet.

“I have a friend in this class,” Satori explained softly. “I texted him and he said I could grab some of the paint I needed from the back as long as it wasn’t a whole lot and I don’t think I’m going to need much so it’s fine.”

Satori flipped on the light in the classroom and Kat’s attention was immediately grabbed by the bag she usually took to class hanging on the corner of a cabinet in the back of the room.

The fact that it was still here was surprising enough to her, though she supposed it would’ve been assumed that she would return to class eventually even after her mysterious disappearance the previous week. This was the best chance she had of getting it though, and she pulled against the opening of the bag that her head poked out of, trying to get out.

“Katrina, what are you doing, you silly kitten?” Satori asked absently, setting the bag down on the floor while he went to grab some paint.

Kat wiggled herself out of the duffel bag and went after her own, jumping up to smack at it with her paws.

Satori gasped and put the paint away quickly. “Katrina, stop it! You can’t do that to other people’s stuff!”

Kat jumped again, even more determined, and this time she successfully pulled it to the floor and crawled inside before Satori could grab her.

Satori picked up the bag, eyes wide and checking over his shoulder to make sure no one was entering the room. He reached for Kat but she shoved her wallet out of the bag with her nose.

Satori opened it and glanced at her ID, pausing. “Katrina.”

Kat took her keychain in her mouth and jumped out of the bag, pausing to see if Satori was going to try and stop her.

“Katrina, you’re acting really weird,” Satori said hesitantly. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Kat walked slowly at first since it didn’t seem like Satori was going to try and catch her. She made her way to the classroom door and out into the hallway when Satori opened it for her.

Satori was uncharacteristically silent as they exited the building into the day’s fading sunlight.

Kat was really relieved that the walk to her apartment was only five minutes since she didn’t know how long Satori would be willing to follow her.

Anticipation made her speed up her pace yet more, even though it was slightly harder with the keys in her mouth still. She waited at crosswalks and turned around to look when Satori fell behind or stopped walking to look at her in confusion.

After a good bit more time than it usually took Kat to walk home, they arrived at her door. Kat stood up and put her paws against the door, dropping the keys on the ground.

Satori picked them up and looked at Kat. “You seem really intent on this. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

Kat patted the door.

Satori knocked. Obviously, there was no answer.

“Katrina, I don’t want to do this. What are you trying to tell me?”

Kat patted the door again.

Satori took a deep breath and stuck the key into the lock. The door clicked open and he stumbled backward.

Kat would’ve rolled her eyes at his paranoia. She walked inside confidently, breathing in the fading, but still present, sweet aroma she liked to keep in her apartment.

“Hello?” Satori called into the residence, taking a hesitant step inside.

The living room was dark and slightly dusty. It was pretty clear by the apartment’s appearance that the resident had been away for a while.

“Katrina, how did you know that the key you found in that bag belongs here?” Satori murmured, flipping on the lights and checking all of the doors for any signs of other people. “Is... Is this where your old owner lived? Were you abandoned?”

Kat really wanted to explain the truth to Satori but he was closer with that guess than any before that, so she was vaguely satisfied. Really, she was just very relieved to be home. She hadn’t solved her problem of being a cat yet, but this was a step closer to the solution. Kat led Satori into her bedroom and jumped up on the bed.

Satori looked around the room and Kat felt just the smallest bit embarrassed. It was less clean than it would’ve been had she known she was going to have visitors and there were a lot of miscellaneous knick-knacks and articles of clothing strewn across the floor.

“Whoever lived here, it looks like they left in a hurry, huh?” Satori mused. “The bag was in the painting room and there are a couple works of art here —good ones, at that— so I think it’s safe to say there’s definitely a connection. I wonder... I’m going to do some research when we get home. I’ll figure out who lives here. Come on, Katrina, let’s go.”

Kat backed herself into the corner on her bed, squeezing in between a couple of pillows.

“Katrina, I don’t want to be here anymore! What if whoever lives here comes back! I don’t know how to explain any of this! If I say ‘my cat found some keys in a bag in the painting room of my college and then she led me here and now I’m just casually in your bedroom,’ they’re not going to believe me!”

Kat didn’t come out.

Satori reached for her, but Kat wiggled out of his hands every time. This was at least one perk of being a cat.

“Katrina, please! You’re being stubborn!”

Kat hid herself in pillows again and waited for Satori to make another move.

“If you’re not going to leave, then I’m not either. I’m going to go back to my place and grab the painting and then we can camp out here and see if the person who lives her comes back. It doesn’t even look like someone lives here, but I guess, it could happen. I-if you want me to leave you here while I run to get the painting, I will, I guess. I... I trust that you know what you’re doing.”

Kat stayed planted on the bed while Satori left, looking especially downcast.

She was nervous for a brief moment only, the thought crossing her mind that Satori might not come back for her, but she thought that was highly unlikely. And besides, she knew where he lived and if she could finally figure out how to undo whatever had turned her into a cat, she could just go after him and try to explain everything. It would probably be a challenge to get him to believe her, but it would definitely be easier once she turned herself back into a human.

While she was alone anyway, Kat explored her apartment. Everything seemed to be exactly how it had been when she’d left it, she noted with relief. She stayed put on the couch to wait for Satori to return.

 

A half an hour passed and the front door finally clicked open again and Satori stepped back into the apartment, looking only slightly less nervous than before.

“You’re still here,” he said, setting his painting down and rubbing Kat’s head. “No one else came home?”

Satori re-checked all of the rooms to confirm they were still alone.

“Here, I brought food from home,” Satori dug into his duffel and pulled out a small plastic bag of cat food, pouring some into his hand and letting Kat eat it all up.

Satori quietly snacked on some chips and inspected the apartment again, finally settling down on the living room floor to paint. It had grown late and Kat was getting tired, but she sat in her chair and watched Satori’s work with fascination like she usually did.

A few hours passed and Satori’s pace slowed to a stop. “It’s finished,” he said with satisfaction. “I think it’s finally done.”

Kat wanted to praise him endlessly. The painting looked beautiful and every detail was exactly in place. Kat was positive that Wakatoshi would love it when Satori gave it to him.

Satori washed his brushes and his hands in the sink and came back to the chair to pet Kat’s head. “Katrina, can we please leave now? It’s really really late. We can come back another time and I’m planning on figuring out who lives here so maybe we can find them. If this is where your original owner lives, I don’t know where they are. It’s past midnight so I don’t think they’re coming back, at least tonight.”

Kat jumped back to the floor and scampered into the bedroom, bouncing slightly on the bed to communicate to Satori that it was safe.

“You want me to sleep here? Katrina, this is someone else’s bed!”

Kat didn’t move.

Finally, Satori laid down and looked at her. “You’re being ridiculous and if I didn’t love you so much, I wouldn’t put up with this. I didn’t even end up talking to Wakatoshi at any point today like I was supposed to. Katrina, you’re a charming cat and if whoever lives here comes back, I hope you’re ready to defend me. Eita’s not going to bail me out if I end up in jail for trespassing and Wakatoshi definitely wouldn’t date a criminal!”

Kat just closed her eyes and ignored him, snuggling closer. She was happy to be home, even if Satori was still skeptical about the whole thing.


	14. Chapter 14

The late morning sun danced across the walls and lit up Kat’s bedroom as she awoke. It was really really good to be home. She looked down at Satori’s peaceful, sleeping face and she chuckled quietly to herself, reaching out a hand and threading her fingers through his hair—

“Fuck!” she yelled, scrambling away from her companion and holding her hand out in front of her. She had five fingers connected to a hand connected to a hand connected to an arm. Kat ran her hands over herself briefly, sighing happily. “Holy shit,  _ finally _ !”

Kat looked back down at Satori and found him wide awake but frozen stiff.

“Um. Hi.” Kat waved. “Sorry for... all of this.”

“Who are you!?” Satori suddenly regained his ability to move and he scrambled to his feet. “Is this your apartment? I didn’t mean to trespass like this, I just—! I found your key, well, my cat did and— where is she?”

Kat sat back on the bed, pausing another moment to look at herself. She was wearing the exact same clothing that she had the previous week and her hair was tied back as it had been too. Flexing her fingers felt just the slightest bit foreign after the week she’d spent without them. Kat felt a little bit stiff, but she resisted the urge to spread out and fully stretch because of the horrified look still plastered over Satori’s face.

“Um, this is going to sound freaky, but I’m Kat... Katrina. I don’t know why or how but I got turned into a cat for a week.”

“You were the cat? Is that how you always seemed to understand what I was saying?”

“Yeah, I was listening to you. I couldn’t really respond though, which was lame. So, uh, sorry. You don’t have a cat anymore. Just me.”

“ Well, I don’t really  _ have _ you either. If you’re a person then you can’t be mine.”

Kat blushed slightly. “I didn’t mean like that!”

Satori smirked slightly. “There is no cat Katrina then.”

“No...”

Satori came back to sit on the edge of the bed and Kat sat down next to him. “Let’s start over then.”

“Yeah, nice try. There’s really no starting over for us. I still remember everything that happened, everything you told me...”

Satori’s cheeks reddened. “That’s okay. It was really nice to have someone to talk to who would just listen.”

“I don’t mean to be forward, but you still can if you want,” Kat looked away. Whatever had happened to her, it was a freak accident and they would both have to move on from it.

“Really? I’d figure you’d never want to see me again. You get turned into a cat then you get kidnapped —well, catnapped, I suppose— and dragged around for an entire week? I’d be pretty sick and tired of listening to my ramblings.”

Kat laughed. “No, it was... you’re... pretty cute.”

Satori chuckled as well and looked at the floor. “Thanks then, I guess. Thanks for not clawing my face off.”

“I still had free will,” Kat reminded him. “If I didn’t want to be around you, I wouldn’t have.”

“So did you want to hang out sometime then? Now that you’re... A human again.”

“Uh, yeah, if that’s something you’re interested in. Being... friends... and stuff.”

“Well, there’s not much catching up we’d have to do. I feel like I’ve already told you everything in my life.”

“It was nice to listen to, your story. You’re a good person. I’ve loved living with you...”

“I’ve loved you living with me,” Satori blurted, looking directly up at Kat. “You were so good at supporting me but also taking care of me. I knew from the start there was no way you could be just an ordinary cat.”

Kat laughed lightly and shook her head. “I wanted to be able to do so much more for you. It was agony being a cat. I couldn’t talk you through your problems, I couldn’t remind you to go to bed, I couldn’t—”

“It was enough,” Satori assured her, putting a hand on her knee. “You were plenty enough.”

Kat felt a sudden rush of emotions. “Then let me do more for you now! I-I want to help you if I can. I know you’re capable of handling your own life, but if you need anything, let me do everything I can for you! I felt so useless this whole week! Especially seeing you get sad sometimes, I just wanted to be able to do anything that would help you! If you’re going to let me be your friend, I want to be good enough—”

“You are enough!” Satori said, suddenly darting forward and crashing their mouths together.

Kat couldn’t breathe. She felt way too warm and dizzy and Satori’s hands were in hers and she couldn’t remember if she had brushed her teeth a week ago before going to class, or maybe her breath tasted like cat food—

Satori’s arm looped around Kat’s back as she didn’t pull away.

Kat relaxed into the kiss. She wasn’t experienced by any means, but with Satori, it just felt natural.

Satori pulled back slowly, lips still slightly parted and eyes unwilling to leave Kat’s “Sorry,” he breathed.

“W-what was that?” Kat stammered nervously, lightly touching her face and feeling how hot her cheeks were.

Satori half-shrugged. “An impulse.”

“And what do you think?”

“Don’t leave me, Katrina.”

Kat swallowed thickly. “Can I say something impulsive too?”

Satori nodded.

She closed her eyes. “I’ve only known you a week, Satori. But I think I’m in love with you.”

Satori chuckled. “I’ve only known the real you a couple minutes and I’m sure I’m in love with you.”

“What about Wakatoshi?”

Satori blushed again and waved dismissively. “Ah, he doesn’t like me back that way.”

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for a week to do this...” Kat reached out and gently slapped Satori’s cheek. “You moron, he’s fucking in love with you!”

“N-no! Someone like me with somebody like him?”

“Absolutely.”

“How about someone like me, somebody like him and somebody like you?”

“He hasn’t even met me. You and I pretty much just met; why are we planning a three-way relationship!?”

“You brought it up!”

“You kissed me!”

“And I’d do it again!”

“Y-you think you’re so cool with your sly tone of voice and your slick comebacks,” Kat pouted.

“Yes or no: would you date me?”

Kat smiled. “Yeah.”

Satori grinned and pulled Kat into his lap. “Would you date Wakatoshi if he said yes?”

“Mhm.”

“Well, there you go. No problemo!”

“Is everything so simple with you?”

“You heard me talk about everything on my mind in the past week, Katrina. You know simple isn’t the word for it.”

Kat smiled sadly. “Is it true what Eita said about last year?”

“That I tried to kill myself? Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“I was stagnating. I wasn’t getting any better or trying anything new because I couldn’t figure out where to go. I was lonely... I started getting distant from all my friends. Everyone you met. Reon, Hayato, Kenjirou, Tsutomu, Taichi, Eita, Wakatoshi... I stopped being the one who made the plans and eventually I stopped talking to them at all. I would always look around and see how alone I was and I didn’t have the courage to tell anyone that I was scared of being alone. I decided I’d rather be dead than be alone.”

“You’re not alone now though, are you.”

“Not at all. When the others found out that that was why I was so upset, they didn’t leave my side. We all started separating again this year because I was having trouble keeping connected again though I know they never would’ve let it get as bad as it did before. But right now, I’m really happy. Having almost everyone over the other night was such a good feeling and Wakatoshi will absolutely be there next time. And so will you if you want to put up with the college dude nonsense.”

“Sign me up.”

“Good. I think it’s going to be easier now, I can just  _ feel _ it.”

“ Well, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Same to you.”

Satori grinned. “So I guess we’re dating now then?”

Kat laughed. “I guess so.”

Satori inhaled deeply. “Good. I like this. So you know all about me, but what’s your story?”

“Uh, there’s not much to it. I’m also an art student, if you can’t tell.” Kat gestured around her room. “My room isn’t quite as bad as yours was, but it’s still the usual artist trash pit. I draw digitally for the most part though.”

Satori’s eyes lit up. “That’s cool! I love traditional but I’ve always wanted to try digital art! I just don’t have a tablet or a good enough computer really.”

“Well, you can use mine whenever you want. But that’s... pretty much what I do. I’m not an exciting person.”

“You got turned into a cat. That’s pretty exciting.”

Kat giggled. “Okay, that’s fair. I still don’t know what happened with that though.”

“What were you doing when it happened?”

“I was in class. Painting class. I was in the back room with all the paint and supplies when—”

“Hold on, the painting classroom right next door to my class where we met?”

“Yeah, that one. The one where we found my bag yesterday.”

“You were... in... the back room...?”

“Yes...? Is there a problem?”

“Keep going.”

“I was trying to get some paint and I knocked over a couple bottles of red paint onto myself and I fell and then I was a cat and I freaked out and ran out of the room and ran into you.”

Satori was silent.

“I thought it was weird for a while, that you just so happened to be in that hallway at that time, but you always go get a snack from the vending machine about that time, don’t you.”

Satori picked at one of his fingernails.

“What? What’s wrong?” Kat asked.

“I was in that painting class last year. I was there after school hours in the back room when I...” Satori trailed off and shifted the bracelets on both his wrists to show the fading scars. “Last week wasn’t the first time the floor in there has been covered in red. Wakatoshi found me first, got help... I always end up thinking about it when I walk past that room.”

Now it was Kat’s turn to fall silent.

“Do you believe in magic? Or predestination? Or that things happen for a reason? Because this can’t be coincidence. From this, I’m not lonely in the slightest anymore and I hope that you’ve learned that you’re enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if you’re a cat who can’t do much, you’re still enough for me, right?”

“Oh... You’re right.”

“We both learned exactly what we needed to learn. It can’t have just been random chance, right?”

Kat shook her head. “I’m a skeptic, but I don’t know if I can be after this. Turning into a cat isn’t something that happens every day.”

Satori grinned and held Kat even closer. “I don’t think we can ignore fate at this point.”

“I don’t want to anyway.” Kat smiled and closed her eyes.

 

Eita was in the living room when Satori popped his head back into the apartment. 

“Tendou Satori, you better have a  _ damn _ good excuse for this! You can’t just up and leave and say Katrina wanted you to stay somewhere else for the night with no other explanation! Were you high??”

Satori grinned mildly. “Jeez, I missed you too, Eita. But there’s someone you need to meet.

Kat smiled as Satori pulled her inside after him.

Eita blinked.

“This is Katrina. The  _ real _ Katrina. It’s a very long story, but basically, fate turned her into a cat and brought her to me.”

Eita didn’t look convinced.

“As crazy as it is, I can’t think of a more realistic explanation, I woke up back in my body today and I’m not going to think too hard about it. I mean, I probably will anyway, but I’m not going to worry about it.”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” Eita shook his head.

Satori smirked. “We’ll be back soon and we can talk more later!”

“Where are you going?”

“We have to go find Wakatoshi!” Kat found herself grinning.

“Why?”

“We’re gonna ask him out!” Satori sang, pulling Kat back out of the apartment.

 

When the twosome stepped onto the college campus, Satori pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed the familiar number, hitting the speakerphone button so Kat could hear too.

“Satori?”

“Hey, Wakatoshi!~”

“Eita told me you didn’t come home last night and I looked for you in your classes this morning but couldn’t find you. Are you safe?”

Satori giggled. “Oh, I’m better than just safe. I need you to come though! Meet me somewhere!”

“Satori, I am in class right now. I stepped outside briefly to take your call”

Eyes lighting up, Satori gasped. “You stepped out of class for me?”

“I did. I was worried for your safety.”

Satori snickered and squeezed Kat’s hand. “Well, trust me, this is probably more important than finishing your class. Meet me in the common area where we did homework together last week?”

“...I will be there.”

“Awesome! Thanks, Wakatoshi! You’re amazing!”

 

Wakatoshi was already in the common area when Kat and Satori arrived, seated at the same small table they’d been at before.

“Hi! Thanks for meeting us here!” Satori greeted, jumping and waving.

Wakatoshi trained his eyes on Kat and tilted his head in confusion.

“I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Wakatoshi!’ Satori said happily, pulling Kat forward. “This is Katrina. For real. She’s a person.”

Wakatoshi towered over Kat and his skeptical gaze sent shivers down her spine.

“Satori, Katrina is a cat. We found her.”

“Exactly! Except that she’s a person!”

“I’m... not following your train of thought.”

“Hey, do you want to go sit outside in the grass? It might be better for talking everything out.”

The three sat close together on the lawn, Satori in between Kat and Wakatoshi, while Kat explained everything that had happened in the last week with small interjections from Satori every few words.

Satori pleaded for Wakatoshi to believe them, insisting that it couldn’t have been mere coincidence that it had happened in the back room of the painting class while Satori was right outside the door.

“It’s highly unreasonable...” Wakatoshi said, his brow furrowed.

“But there’s no better way to explain it,” Kat finished.

“You kinda just have to stop thinking of her as a cat and just as a person. It’s easier that way.”

“I see. I accept your proposition.”

“Great!” Satori threw his hands in the air in celebration. “Now we have one more thing to ask you about. It’s probably at least a little more realistic than this, right?”

Kat shrugged.

Satori bounced in place and looked directly at Wakatoshi. “Date us!”

Wakatoshi blinked.

“I hope this doesn’t have to change anything between us even if you don’t want to,” Satori began again quickly. “But I’ve liked you for a long long time and I’m hoping that everything that’s been going on hasn’t made this impossible, but...I think it’d be pretty great if we were a thing! All three of us! I was going to give you that painting when I asked you out because I finished it finally, but I figured this was a better surprise! I can give you the painting later!”

Wakatoshi hesitated. “I would be... open to that if you are so enthused about it. I don’t know if I would be able to catch on right away, but I am willing to give it a chance.”

“Yes!” Satori threw himself at Wakatoshi, tipping them both over into the grass.

Kat laughed until Satori grabbed her hand and pulled her into the pile.

“This is so much better as a person,” Kat said happily.

“You know, I was thinking,” Satori started. “When Wakatoshi and I found you, you had a collar on with your name on it. Where did that come from?”

Kat rolled her eyes. “I got turned into a cat and you’re worried about where the collar came from?”

“Not really! It just crossed my mind, that’s all! Wakatoshi, you need to help defend me!”

“Is Katrina too much for you to handle as a human now, Satori?”

“She sure wasn’t quite as stubborn as a cat,” Satori grumbled.

“That’s a lie. I made you stay the night at my apartment last night and I won that fight as a cat.”

“Okay fine, but I think it’s pretty cute either way,” Satori giggled and leaned over to kiss Kat’s cheek.

“Will we be getting a real cat of our own sometime, Satori?” Wakatoshi asked.

Satori gasped. “We should! I’m very experienced at taking care of cats!”

Kat scoffed. “Yeah, right. It’s okay though, I grew up with plenty of cats. I’ll have to tell you guys what my sister’s cats did to me when I first turned; it was horrible!”

“Were they mean to you?” Satori asked nervously.

Kat smiled. “Yeah, kinda, but I got where I needed to go in the end. I do need to go over there and kick their asses for refusing to let me in... We could think about getting other pets too. There’s a really cute gecko at the pet shop where Tsutomu and Hayato work who’s also a great help when you’ve been turned into a cat and you don’t know what to do.”

Satori laughed at that. “We can get all the pets! I do want a cat though, I think they’re amazing! Especially when they turn out to be my girlfriend!”

“Is getting a pet our first mutual act as a group?” Wakatoshi asked. “Are we ready for that?”

Satori waved dismissively. “Like I said, I’m an expert. I thought I was getting a lowercase ‘c’ cat, but I ended up with a capital ‘K’ Kat, which is much better in my opinion. But the point still stands. Do you guys all agree?”

Kat smiled and leaned her head against Satori. “I couldn’t disagree with anything involving you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katrina,  
> it's been a hell of a year and I wouldn't trade a moment of it. We've logged way too many hours on the phone and stayed up way too late being absolutely ridiculous and that's what I love about us. This is my gift to you to say thank you for being a part of making this past year one of the best years of my life. And this can't even begin to make up for how much you've done for me, but let it be a token of how much I love you, my miracle girl.  
> Yours,  
> Erica


End file.
